Letters Of Charles Dickens -(1931)

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS
TO THE

BARONESS BURDETT-COUTTS

LETTERS OF
CHARLES DICKENS

TO THE

BARONES S BU RDETT-C OU T TS

EDITED BY

CHARLES C OSBORNE

WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL
INTRODUCTION

LONDON

JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W

193 ^

CONTENTS

PACE

M

^OPF^\ORD

Biocraphicai S> etch I

Letters of Charles Dickens to thf Baroness
Bl'pdftt-Coutts, viTH Explanatory Notes

iNTRODDCTOR'i

The Bect* • i .c or the Friend. hip — ^The First Meet: .c —
Fttodlctton of Mr W H Wills 29-33

1841-1843

The Famols Rasens — M i's Han* ah Meredith — First Visit
TO THE U: iTED States — A-’ iEncAN EXPERIENCES — Martin
Cf-uz^e vtt — ^Te 5 ti*io' ialto Macreads — Lady Sale — ^Theo-
dore Hoor — E W Elto. — Elizabeth Brohnricc 33-55

1844-1846

“The Guild of Literature ahd Apt” — ^John Oiers — Itals
— George Cruirsha'jk and Mr White — Separation from
The Datlj Neuts 55 “ 7 i

1 846-1 847

A Home for Fallen Women — ^A Remarkable Appeal — ^The
Genesis of Mrs Gamp — Basis of Instruction and Organi-
zation FOP Home - ^ 7^~99

CONTENTS

PACE

1848-1851

An Accident to Mrs Dicrens at Broadstairs — Lieutenant
Charles Goldsmith — Interest in Advancement of Educa-
tion — The Completion of David Coppetjicid- — “The Guild
OF Literature and Art” 99-108

1852-1853

Industrial Dwellings — Death of Biron’s Daughter —
Death of the Duke of Wellington — Mrs Warner — Com-
pletion OF Bleak House — Inquiries into Begging Letters —
The Italian Triumvirate — Chauncei Hare Townshend —
Italy i 09-1 3 8

1854-1855

Boulogne — Slums and Overcrowding — Highgate — Mr
Lowe and his Daughters — Little Dorrit — Sir Austen Henry
Layard — Tke Lighthouse 138-156

1855- 1856

The Crimean War — Riots in Hyde Park — ^Joshua Watson
— Portrait by Ary Scheffer — Gadshill Place — The FroTsen
Deep — Palmer, the Rugeley Poisoner — The Promotion of
Needlework — ^John Forster — A Little Bird — Political
Surgeons AND the Crimean War 156-172

1856- 1858

Progress of Little Domt — The Frozen Deep — “Derry” —
Abandonment of the Home at Shepherd’s Bush — Miss
Burdett-Coutts’s Handwriting — Dr Livingstone and
Africa — A Horrible Spectacle — Promotion of “Common
Subjects” — h. Book on Dress — K Visit from Hans Andersen
Miss Maria Ternan — India — h. Tour with Wilkie
Collins — A Christmas Story — Douglas Terrold — ^Arthur
W W Smith t77-tq2

Vlll

CONTrNTS

pAcn

1858-1864

\ Trr'r' lATiov rri'>M Covr’rri — / Talc cf Tno Cifia —
Cii\r\Dr' \M> A It'ttiAi Onjicr J95“J94

ArrrsDicES

I 'Tr_\CT rro \ nir Wiu or ntr Bapont-' lUiRDErr-CbUTTs

— Mf' MrrrniTir' — SA’iuri. Dri’MMOso’s Portrait

or CuARt-r* Dickevi 195-200

Index 201-205

IX

FOREWORD

O N the lyth of May, 1922, a box containing
upwards of six hundred letters from
Charles Dickens to Miss Burdett-Coutts, after-
wards the Baroness Burdett-Coutts, was sold by
Messrs Sotheby, Wilkinson, and Hodge of New
Bond Street, London The collection as a whole
was purchased by Mr O R Barrett, of the
United States

During the years 1887-1898, when I had the
honour of being the private Secretary of Lady
Burdett-Coutts, I made, with her full knowledge
and special permission, extracts from some of the
letters It is now a source of the deepest regret
that I did not copy all of them

In making the extracts every care was taken to
follow the spelling, punctuation, and use of
capitals in the originals It will be seen that
Dickens almost invanably used a capital when he
wished to emphasize a particular word He
rarely used italics , and the only departures in the
following pages from the original letters is the
printing in italics of the titles of books and of
othci publications, and of the dates in words at
the beginning of each letter

The following selections made from the ex-

XI

foreword

includerl tn fV. t numbei of the Letters

CHARLES C OSBORNE.

XU

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF
THE BAROXCSS BURDETT-COUTTS

M ISS ANGEL A GEORGINA BURDETT-
COUTTSj to whom Charles Dickens
wrote tre fol'o ’ ing and \crj min} other letters,
w-’s the • oungest d-^uchtcr of Sir Enncis Burdett,
fifth B-’^onct, '’nd of his vifc Sophia, third and
loungcst d'>ughtcr of Thomas Coutts She was
born 2 1 St Ap'il, i8i^, and in 1837 assumed the
additional surname of Coutts upon inhcnting,
through the Duchess of St. Albans, the great
fortune of her maternal grandfather, Thomas
Coutts Mr, Coutts, who was the founder of
the famous banking house of Messrs Coutts &
Co , had married is his second wife the actress
Harriot Mellon, to whom, on his death in 1822,
he left his entire fortune, including his interest in
the bank. Five jears later Mrs Coutts mamed
the ninth Duke of St Albans

About 1823 Miss Hannah Meredith was
chosen as the governess for Angela Burdett, and
remained her lifelong companion and fnend
From her earliest childhood the daughter of Sir
Franas and Lad} Burdett was brought up amidst
the most advantageous surroundings Her
father, in addition to being one of the most

I

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF

eminent politicians and reformers of his day, was
the friend of many of the leading public men,
writers and artists of the time, including Byron,
Samuel Rogers, Thomas Moore, Wordsworth,
Sir Thomas Lawrence and Charles Dickens
Under the inspiring influence of Miss Meredith,
Angela Burdett became an exceptionally well-
educated and accomplished woman . she travelled
widely, both in England and on the Continent,
and learned to speak and write French and Italian
with accuracy and grace The romantic circum-
stances under which she acquired her wealth
naturally added to the public interest in the young
heiress, and led to many exaggerated accounts of
her fortune, which, though a great one in the
first half of last century, was much less than
many fortunes possessed in the twentieth cen-
tury

Though Miss Burdett-Coutts went freely into
Society, entertained magnificently, and became the
friend of many of the most interesting men and
women of her day, her chief interests were neither
social nor political From the first she set her-
self steadily to study in what way she could best
improve and aid her fellow beings without any
special regard to creed or nationality, though, of
course, her chief efforts were on behalf of English
speaking peoples There is no complete record,
nor can one ever be made, of her beneficent
efforts, for in addition to the many public works
she undertook, her private benefactions were
multitudinous Upon some of them light is
thrown by the letters from Dickens. She rarely

2

THE BriPOVESS BUPDETT-COVTTS

gave assistance without careful but considerate
inquines as to the genuineness of an application,
and the means best calculated to enable those in
need to help themselves, and to become again
self-reliant and independent. Almost to the end
of her life she endeavoured to open and read
every letter sent to her, and how much this
meant can be judged from the statement that,
not infrequently, three or four hundred letters
were received in a day.

To compile a mere catalogue of the works
initiated or aided by the Baroness Burdett-Coutts
would fill several pages, but in order to be able
to form a just opinion of her character it is neces-
sary to summanze some of the chief objects to
which she devoted her time and wealth

Wnting m 1869, William Howitt said, “I
suppose no other woman under the rank of a
Queen ever did so much for the Established
Church ” It IS doubtful whether any Queen,
out of her own resources, ever did anything like
as much The Baroness founded and endowed
the Colonial Bishopnes of Cape Town, Adelaide
and British Columbia She built and endowed
St Stephen’s Church, Westminster, and also
St. Stephen’s Church in one of the poorest dis-
tricts of Carlisle. The London churches of St
John’s, Limehouse, St James’, Hatcham, and
St. John’s, Deptford, were largely built through
her benefactions, and about the same time she
placed ;^i 5,000 in the hands of Dr Blomfield,
the then Bishop of London, for the work of
church extension. She contnbuted munificently

3

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF

to the interesting restoration of Ramsbury Abbey,
once a Cathedral Church, and was the generous
supporter of many other church works, including
the Missionary works of Robert Moffat and of
David Livingstone

To the cause of Education she rendered greater
services, directly and indirectly, than have ever
been recognized She founded and endowed
two scholarships at Oxford University In the
cause of elementary education she was a pioneer
The schools for boys, girls and infants adjoining
St Stephen’s Church, Westminster, were opened
in 18483 and in 1876 the Chauncey Hare Town-
shend Free Schools in Rochester Street — schools
which under the altered conditions of education
have since been amalgamated Through her
efforts at Whitelands Training College, Chelsea,
the Baroness prepared the way for the modern
teaching of domestic science At this centre
year after year she encouraged the teaching
of cooking, dressmaking, milliner}', housevork,
house management, thrift, and by her annual
addresses, and the offer of prizes for essays,
inculcated the ideal that “to vhatever class a
ptrson may belong, an industrious discharge
oi the dutic<5 of that position in life is a social
-nd religious obligation ” In the East End of
London an L\tning School for bo}s vas earned
on tor m-^na \car5 at Coopers Gardens, and vhen
t.ce N.ght Schools verc established at the public
e ' - f ’i'- institution V as turned into a G} mnasium
c I\e idini:; Room In another part of the
^ Ltd a having School v as opened and

THE CrtROVESS BURDETT-COUTTS

eventually became a Shirt and Clothing Factory.
In the vrork of the Ragged School Union, the
Shoeblack Brigades, and of the Training Ships
Chichester^ Arethusa and Goliath, the Baroness
took a warm and active interest, giving ,^5,000
to the last-named She built and equipped the
Westminster Technical Institute, which, after
doing valuable work, was presented as a free gift
to the London County Counal As President
for many years of the Destitute Children’s Dinner
Society the Baroness was able to assist in pro-
viding tens of thousands of children with hot
and nourishing meals at a charge of one penny,
and this work was done before the days of pro-
viding hungry school children with meals at the
public expense She was for many years a
generous supporter of the organization founded
by the Rev Benjamin Waugh and now known
as the National Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Children Indeed, the interest of the
Baroness in the welfare and protection of young
children extended over a long penod of her life,
and was earned out in very many ways. She
was also the founder of the first home for Girl
Art Students opened in London, and extended
generous support to the Birkbeck Literary and
Scientific Institute. Nor were her efforts con-
fined to narrow limits She did much to help
forward the work of Sir Richard Owen, Sir
Joseph Hooker, Frank Buckland, Charles
Babbage, and William Pengelly, whose geological
collection she purchased and presented to the
Nation

5

B

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OP

Tiirough the interest of Charles Dickens, the
Baroness was led to erect Columbia Square
affording accommodation for about 1,000 persons,
a pioneer effort in providing attractive and
sanitary accommodation for the poorer-class
workers of London These dwellings were
opened in 1862, and two years later she em-
barked on the much greater undertaking of
Columbia Market, built with the object of supply-
ing a large section of London with cheaper and
better fish and vegetables Owing to the organ-
ized trade opposition this great scheme was not
successful, but the noble building remains as an
evidence of the public spint and munificence of
the lady who erected it

The active interest of the Baroness in the
work of the Royal Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals extended over a long period,
and she was one of those chiefly concerned m
instituting the scheme under which thousands of
children yearly competed for prizes given for
essays on the kind treatment of animals, and she
never missed an opportunity, when able, of speak-
ing to the vast audiences of children at the Crystal
Palace She provided yearly prizes for the kind
treatment and good condition of donkeys owned
by the costermongers of London in whose welfare
she took a warm interest Fountains and dnnk-
ing-troughs were provided in London and other
centres The Baroness was President of the
British Goat Society, and did much to encourage
British Bee-keeping The list of her activities
IS indeed innumerable, but mention must also

6

THE BARONESS BURDETT-COUTTS

be made of the assistance she gave to emigration ,
in 1863 she aided many of the unfortunate East
End weavers of London to emigrate to Queens-
land and to Nova Scotia, and in 1869 she enabled
1,200 weavers of Girvan in Ayrshire to emigrate
to Australia Sir James Brooke received valuable
assistance in founding the Kingdom of Sarawak
in Borneo cotton-growing was encouraged in
Nigeria* lifeboats were provided for the coast of
Brittany and the fund for the Ordnance Survey
of Jerusalem received generous support In
1877 she raised the Turkish Compassionate
Fund for the relief of the peasantry in Roumelia
and Bulgaria who had fled before the advancing
Russian Army

In recognition of the great service the Baroness
had rendered his people, the Sultan in 1878 con-
ferred upon her the Diamond Star and First
Class of the Order of Madjidie, which had been
given to no other woman save Queen Victoria,
and the Sultan afterwards added the Grand
Cross and Cordon of the Chafakat (Mercy)

For nearly half a century she did much to
relieve distress in Ireland and to revive and
extend Irish fishenes Modern fishing-boats
were provided, a training school for 400 boys
established, and many other works undertaken
to safeguard against famine In 1880 she
offered to advance the English Government
£ 2 ^ 0,000 for the supply of seed potatoes for
Ireland — an offer which stimulated the CJovern-
ment to discharge its own responsibilities

It IS not surprising that these efforts on behalf

7

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF

of the welfare of her fellow beings brought the
Baroness a fame second only to that of Queen
Victoria. It IS recorded that King Edward VII,
when Prince of Wales, expressed the opinion
that the Baroness was the most remarkable
woman in the Kingdom, after his Mother It
IS no exaggeration to assert that she was as widely
beloved as the great Queen herself Those who
witnessed the extraordinary demonstrations of
affection and enthusiasm which took place out-
side of I, Stratton Street on the occasion of the
Queen’s Jubilee in 1887, and of her Diamond
Jubilee in 1897, beginning, as they did, early
in the evening and being carried on by continuous
moving crowds until after two o’clock the next
morning, were enabled to form some idea of the
feelings entertained by the mass of the people
for Lady Burdett-Coutts Mr. Julian Young
describes a similar demonstration of feeling
during the Reform Procession in 1868 In
1871 she was created a Baroness by the Queen,
the only instance at that time of a Peerage being
bestowed upon a woman in recognition of her
public achievements and her burial in West-
minster Abbey is the only instance in English
History of the inclusion within the National
Valhalla of a woman solely in recognition of her
personal character and public works Many
other distinctions were given to her during her
lifetime She received the Freedom of the Cities
of London, Manchester, and Edinburgh, and
Md the^ Freedom conferred upon her of the
Turners Company, the Cloth Workers’, the

8

THE BARONESS BURDETT-COUTTS

Haberdashers’ and the Coach Makers’ H.R H.
Princess Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck, in a
preface which she contributed to a short bio-
graphy of Lady Burdett-Coutts, issued in con-
nection with the World’s Columbian Exposition
of 1893, said “Great as have been the intrinsic
benefits that the Baroness has conferred on
others, the most signal of all has been the power
of example — an incalculable quantity, which no
record of events can measure She has ever
sought, also, to increase the usefulness of women
in their homes, to extend their opportunities of
self-improvement, and to deepen the sources of
influence which they derive from moral worth
and Christian life ’’

Lady Burdett-Coutts’s circle of friends was an
extraordinarily wide one, it is only possible to
name a few Among those with whom she was
most intimate were Queen Victoria, the Duke of
Cambridge, his sister the Duchess of Teck,
her daughter, now Queen Mar)'^, the Duke of
Wellington, Sir Robert Peel, Faraday, Wheat-
stone, William Pengelly, Babbage, Rajah Sir
James Brooke, Sir Henry Stanley, General
Gordon, Sir Henry Irving, Admiral of the Fleet
Sir Henry Kcppcl, Mr Frederick Greenwood,
Sir Francis dc Winton, whilst her acquaintances
included all the best known men and women of
the day, foreign Ambassadors, and particularly
the Ambassadors and other distinguished visitors
from the United States.

In 1881 the Baroness married Mr Willnm
Ashmead Bartlett vho, though of English dc-

9

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF

scent, was by nationality an American Under
the Will of the Duchess of St. Albans it was
provided that if Miss Angela Burdett should
marry a foreigner her interest in the banking
house was to pass to her sister Clara A com-
promise was arranged between the two sisters
under which the Baroness kept two-fifths of the
income for her life, the other three-fifths going
to her sister Clara, who had become Mrs Money,
and her representatives Mrs Money accord-
ingly assumed the name, in accordance with the
Will of the Duchess, of Money-Coutts which
elicited the following epigram from Punch

Money takes the name of Coutts,

Superfluous and funny,

For everyone considers Coutts
Synonymous with Money

From early associations and training Lady
Burdett-Coutts was m sympathy with the Evan-
gelical party, and during the first forty years of
her life might perhaps have been accurately
described as an Evangelical But she disliked
the narrowness of parties within the Church, and
had no wish to be labelled as belonging to any
particular one The terms of her Will show that
there can be no mistake with regard to her own
point of \ie\\, or to the constancy with which it
w.is held ^ But so long as any movement w'lthin
the Church was upon lines of loyalty to the
Establishment, she was ready to further it by
all meins in her power She gave as freely and
* Sec pipe 105
10

TUF BARON'ESS BURDETT-COUTTS

as gcncrousl) to works of Church extension, and
of Church restomtion promoted by High Church-
men and Broad Churchmen, as to similar efforts
made b) Eaangclicals In considering appeals
for the relief of suffering she made no distinction,
no matter from whom the) came The Church
never had a more staunch or devoted daughter,
but her adherence was given to the Church as a
whole and not to a section of it She valued
the comprehensiveness of the Church of Eng-
land, and for this reason attached the greatest
importance to the connection between Church
and State She believed that State control was
the best guarantee for the maintenance of the
Church of England upon that broad basis on
which It had been re-established in the sixteenth
centur)' She was fully alive to the importance
of the Church as a spiritual body, but she knew
that spintual bodies are apt to undergo surprising
transformations in the hands of ecclesiastics
The English Establishment might not be ideal,
but she valued it because its teaching is based
upon the Bible She had a profound belief
in the ingrained Protestantism of the English
people, in their attachment to the simple truths
of Senpture as opposed to ecclesiastical dogmas,
and pnestly innovations, and she looked to the
people rather than to the Bishops and Clergy to
preserve the Church as a pnceless heritage She
shrank from religious controversy in any form,
as unprofitable, and as tending to accentuate
differences, which it should be the first object of
Christians to overcome Nor did the resolution

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF

With which she held to her own views narrow
her sympathy or blind her to the good being
done by those with whom she could not agree
The object of her life was to promote the spiritual
and material well-being of her fellow men As
a staunch churchwoman, her influence in spiritual
matters was mainly connected with the Church
of England, but she was always ready to co-
operate in good works with Roman Catholics,
Nonconformists, Quakers, and Jews, and to give
liberally to schemes promoted by them Noth-
ing was more remarkable than this liberality of
thought and generosity of sympathy combined
with firm adherence to her own views

Serenity of disposition, sanity of judgment,
determination of purpose, breadth of sympathy,
and confident assurance in the Christian faith,
vcrc the dominant characteristics of Lady
Burdett-Coutts With these, innumerable in-
dividual characteristics and foibles were har-
moniously blended in that remarkable personality
It has been said that imperturbability is an
twdcncc of full development, “a blessing to the
possessor, a comfort to all vho come in contact
V ith him” This v as true of Lada Burdett-
Coutis Her ';crcnit) v.as infectious Those
vho came in contact v ith her caught something
ot her V ISC and bra\c spirit, and vent from her
p'-c'^tnee better and more hoptful than v hen
thea entered T hr eC)U'’mmita v .is the re'^'ult
of 1 ! naalcd'a '■tid t ^.ptriencc It \ not due
;o c lln-rnr , tor ■^he v r hivhU seintni, at'd
revi- •’c rrded ' ith composure llu. mi fortunes

THE BAROKESS EUB.DETT-COUTTS

of Others, But her nerv^es and feelings vrere
under the control of a vrell balanced mind, so
that she savr things in a nght perspective and
proportion Her justness of perception and
sanity of judgment vrere evidence of “wisdom
which IS pure, peaceable, gentle, full of mercy
and good fruits ” She had no wish to escape
from the cares, anxieties and responsibilities of
life But she did not allow cares to depress, or
anxieties to harass her, or to dim her clearness of
vision

She lived in the present and for the present,
discharging the duty of each day, recognizing
that the past alone is enduring, that the future
IS not ours to command; but that to-day, if man
will work, he may help those about him, and
those who come after him, and add a page to
the records of usefulness

To her wealth was not a proof of ment, nor
poverty a reproach in the individual She
valued men and women neither for birth nor
fortune, but for what they were themselves
Nobility of character, earnestness of purpose, and
capaaty, were what she valued most, and she
knew that of these the members of no class and
of no creed have a monopoly

The aristocratic influences of a long line of
descent were concentrated in her, grace of person,
grace of speech, exqiusite daintiness and refine-
ment, a delicate perception of distinction , perfect
ease of manner, the faculty of winnmg obedience
without effort, and the gift of erecting impassable
yet imperceptible bamers against familianty

13

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF

She inherited some of the salient features of
her maternal grandfather, Thomas Coutts In
matters of business she was shrewd and far-
sighted She had strong sympathies with com-
mercial life, and a keen insight into the sources
of commercial success She was the first in
the Banking House of which she was a partner
to perceive that the day for private banking
operations was passing away, and the fact that
the great business of Coutts was turned from a
private enterprise into an unlimited private joint
stock company, regularly publishing financial
statements, was chiefly due to her foresight and
influence This was the more remarkable be-
cause she had no “head for figures ” Statistics
bewildered her, and yet she could grasp their
meaning and draw just conclusions from them
In matters of benevolence she seemed to be in-
capable of distinguishing between the value of
five and ten pounds, but when a matter of
business, or the making of a bargain was in
question, no one could more nicely discriminate
She would give away thousands, but in a matter
of business she was j'ust as likely as not to dispute
over “the splitting of a hair.” We find the
same characteristics recorded of her grandfather,
Thomas Coutts

Her memory was a remarkably good one,
extracting the essence of things and rejecting
the unessential Although in no sense a student,
nor a great reader of books, she was one of the
best informed persons of her time During her
long life, she lived in daily contact with leaders

14

THE BARONESS BURDETT-COUTTS

of thought, and the natural powers of her mind,
and the careful training it had received in youth,
enabled her to profit to an exceptional extent by
the conversation of the able men with whom she
delighted to surround herself. She had, among
other gifts, the art of putting everyone about
her at ease, and of malang each talk upon the
subject in which he or she was most interested
She had heard all the best music, witnessed all
the best plays, seen all the best pictures, and
read many of the best books produced dunng
a period which will long remain memorable in
the history of science, art and literature

Whatever men were doing and thinking en-
listed her sympathy At an early age she was
interested in science by Faraday, but her mind
was not a scientific one. It was rather the
benefits of saence, the important bearing of
research upon the well-being of mankind, than
any taste for the processes by which the results
were arnved at, that appealed to her In the
same way she cared for Art for the sake of its
message, rather than from a love of beauty or
from an eclectic and fastidious taste It was the
sentiment of a picture, the feelings it touched,
that attracted her The skill of the artist was a
matter of secondary consideration

The welfare of mankind was the absorbing
interest of her life It dominated her mind, it
coloured her whole outlook It was never
obtruded but it was always there Other things
were of secondary consideration For these she
found time, entenng with zest into the thing of

15

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF

the moment. If her guests weie devoted to
science they went away feeling assured, owing
to her social gifts and sympathy, that science
was one of the things the Baroness most cared
to hear about The politician, the artist, the
actor, the writer, the tiaveller all fell under the
same spell She would talk with equal readiness
and interest about the weather, about dress,
fashion, the last Drawing Room, the political
situation, books, pictures, plays, the condition
of China, the atmosphere of Mars, or the latest
sensational crime! Whatever interested a guest
interested her But as soon as the attraction
had passed, her mind flew back, with the instinct
of the magnetic needle for the Pole, to the fixed
point of view

As a speaker, the Baroness possessed gifts of
a high order Though her voice was never
strong, it was musical, flexible, and expressive
Her power of persuading and convincing owed
almost as much to the way the words were spoken
as to the words themselves This was even
more noticeable in her conversation than in her
speeches Her personality dominated her utter-
ances, indeed overshadowed them Much of the
point and force of her remarks was lost when
the sentences were considered apart from the
inflection of the voice, and the individuality of
the speaker She had a fine sense of the niceties
of language, and the happy phrase, the exact
word, seemed to come to her without an effort
Her manner was so quiet, simple, and wholly
free from any trace of affectation or self-con-

16

THE BARONESS BURDETT-COUTTS

sciousness, that the listener rarely perceived the
power of mind and perfection of art that produced
the result The Baroness’s many public speeches
were never written out beforehand, and she
rarely even used notes But before a speech
was to be made, she would shut herself up in
her boudoir, and turn her subject over in her
mind, viewing it from different points, and
selecting and arranging the sequence of her
ideas To this preparation she would devote
one, two, or even three hours, but she trusted to
the inspiration of the moment for the language in
which to express her thoughts It is doubtful
if anyone has ever excelled her in the use of
speech as a means of expressing thoughts — or of
concealing them As a politician she would
have beaten the “old Parliamentary hand” on
his own ground She recalled with amusement
that three Lord Chancellors told her that she
would have made the best Lord Chancellor who
ever sat on the woolsack It was difficult to
disconcert her, and impossible to obtain from her
information that she did not wish to give One
could not extract from her words more meaning
than she intended they should convey On the
contrary, when one came to think over exactly
what she had said, and to weigh the words with
care, one often found they were surprisingly
indefinite Words that had meant so much
when spoken lost half of their charm and purport
without the voice and personality that gave them
life This was not due to adroitness, or any
wish to mislead Her character was frank and

17

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF

candid, and all she said and did bore the impress
of truth and sincerity.

She had intuitively the gift of being able to
adapt her speech to suit the understanding of
the person with whom she had to deal. Where
the feelings of others were concerned she always
displayed tact and consideration which have
seldom been equalled and never surpassed
There were few bores of whom she could not
rid herself without their being conscious of
the way by which it was done If a gentle
and indirect hint proved ineffective, one a shade
more definite was used, and the process was
repeated until the intelligence vas at length
reached These artful methods were naturally
exercised chiefly upon acquaintances, anyone, the
Baroness thought might feel chagrined if they
imagined that the lady with whom they had been
holding a delightful conversation, and who seemed
so kind and sympathetic, was anxious to get rid
of them They always went away supremely
pleased with themselves, and the willing slaves
of the great lady by whose charm and personality
they had been fascinated

Her tactful method of dealing with all sorts
and conditions of men was undoubtedly due to
a noble consideration for the feelings of others
But the Baroness had too much sense of humour
not to find attraction in the game. She appreci-
ated the victories she won It was nerve, skill,
and acute perception pitted against commonplace
intelligence, and as one watched the comedy one
felt that the lady had a true sporting instinct.

THE 3-.PO:.£SS ELPDETT-COETTS

that she liked to do the thing neatly and artistic-
allr, ard enjoyed experimenting upon the obttise-
ness of human nature

It has been said that the Baroness vrould have
made a great diplomatist Her control over the
expression of her face vrould in itself have made
the fortune of an ambassador charged vnth delicate
negotiations There never vras a more expressive
face, vnen she vnshed it to be so But in time
of doubt or diHcuIty ^t became impenetrable as
a sphinx. It could express everything or nothing,
at will Those who engaged in a duel with the
Baroness, and hoped to read her meaning m her
face, or gather it from her words, were doomed
to disappointment. She would argue all round
a subject when it smted her purpose, and always
evade the pomL Of every opening given by an
adversary she took advantage Her logic and
insistence in attack were irresistible They
gained the more force from her unruffled de-
meanour, her gentleness and seeming serenity.
But in reply she would, if pressed, ignore logic,
facts, and commonsense, take refuge in a paradox,
a fiction, or an absuraity, and defend her position
with an ingenuity which baffled and disconcerted
the opposer.

Notwithstanding the ease and faality with
which the Baroness expressed herself in con-
versation, she wrote with difflculty Composition
was a labour to her. She took infinite pains in
framing her many important letters to the press,
often re-wnting them again and again, altenng,
transposing paragraphs, twisting about the sen-

19

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF

tences, substituting a new word here, and another
there, till sometimes the pages of manuscript
were covered with mysterious hieroglyphics,
which she found it impossible to read herself
Her manuscripts were often the puzzle and
despair of copyists and secretaries The per-
plexing results of her labours she regarded with
amusement not unmixed with chagrin I deter-
mined to master the difficulties of her handwriting,
and in time I became, as Mr H W. Wills had
been before me, an acknowledged expert, whose
aid was sought by many persons in distress It
was not without reluctance, however, that the
Baroness admitted my skill There was a trace
of unwillingness to acknowledge that there was
someone who could always read what she had
written She also had her doubts as to the
accuracy of the performance How could she
be quite certain that my explanation was correct,
when she could not make out the passage herself^
Besides, to admit anyone’s infallibility was con-
trary to all principles of law and order, and mi^ht
also result in depriving her of something which
all her life had been fruitful of amusement, as
well as of complications

Another failing upon which the Baroness
humorously plumed herself was her inability to
fill up a cheque. Until the Banking House was
turned into a pnvate Joint Stock Company, she
rarely used cheques Her partners sedulously
supplied her with cheque books, but they were
preserved for ornament or as objects of ironical
remarks She wrote her orders for payment upon

20

THE BARONESS BURDETT-COUTTS

sheets of ordinary note-paper. After the Bank
was turned into a Company this practice was
discountenanced, much to the chagrin of the
lady, who maintained that it was so much
easier to write orders than to fill up cheques,
which remained to the last an annoyance to
her,

‘*Will you fill up these cheques for me?” she
would say, or, ‘‘Will you show me how to wnte
these cheques, for I never know what to put”,
and you knew from the delicate inflection of the
voice that there was a determination never to
understand! To be made to use cheques was an
infringement of her prerogative, and an evidence
to her mind that she no longer wielded the same
power that she once possessed in the great banking
house of Coutts This was touching upon a
tender subject When no one was present to fill
in the cheques, or to tell her exactly in each case
what to do, the Baroness serenely made out
cheques in vanous amusing forms

When her prejudices were aroused, the Baron-
ess was implacable An offender could do
nothing that was not turned against him If
he defended himself when attacked, the Baroness
would suggest that his friends must be growing
weary of endless explanations, which deceived no
one He might be clever, though she had never
seen any evidence of it, and he needed all his
cleverness to invent plausible excuses for his
conduct There was probably more in the case
against him than appeared He had got off, but
he might not be so successful on the next occasion

21 c

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF

If, on the other hand, someone who had incurred
the Baroness’s displeasure did nt)t reply to an
attack. It IS because he knew his case was
hopeless If he had the misfortune to fall ill,
illness was often very convenient No one really
knows whether he is ill or not The doctor’s
certificate? Doctors are always ready to give
a certificate No one attaches importance to
such things They are a matter of form. It
was curious that the illness should happen so
opportunely She noticed it always did When-
ever Mr found things unpleasant, he got

ill Criticisms of this kind may appear in-
effective when written, but they were destructive
as spoken by the Baroness The inference
was plausible, the statement was made with so
artful an air of sincerity, as though the view
put forward was the only natural one to
take, the words used were so carefully phrased,
that It was difficult to find an appropriate
reply, and a stranger might have been for-
given for imagining that the Baroness was merely
talking round a subject the purport of which
she had not clearly grasped But this would
have been a mistake It was an exhibition of
the gentle art of disparagement and it was done
with such skill that the suggestions stuck in the
mind of the hearer, and produced a more lasting
effect than plain statement or invective There
was no weapon which the Baroness used with
greater skill It took a good deal, as a general
rule, to arouse her animosity She was slow to
enter upon a quarrel, but once in, she took care

22

THE BaJlOXESS BUHDETT-COUTrS

that the opposer should beware of her. Xothing
was neglected that would ensure victory. If she
could avoid doing so, she did not £gbt single-
handed. Many inSuences were set to work;
attacks were planned from quarters where they
were least expected; and the foe was suddenly
assailed from all sides and forced to capitulate.
In these encounters the dihiculty she experienced
m persuading men to adopt plans of action which
seemed qmte legitimate to a woman’s mind was
one of the reasons why, generally speaking, she
liked men and trusted them so much more than
she did members of her own sex. She certainly
was at one with Queen '\^ctoria in her rather poor
opimon of the feminme part of humanity. Vilth
the exception of Mrs Brown, her advisers
and closest friends throughout her life were
men.

But the antipathies of which I have spoken
were the result of prejudice They were not
aroused by wrongs done to her personally. In
these cases she was nobly charitable and for-
bearing She forgave agents who robbed her of
large sums of money, and at the time of her death
she was aiding m many ways the family of a man
who, while in her employ, turned out to be a
drii^en and worthless character. Instances
might easily be multiplied. In the ordmary
acceptation of the word there was nothing
vindictive in Lady Burdett-Coutts’s nature.
But people who aroused her prejudices learned
that she knew how to make her resentment
felt.

^3

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF

The Baroness was the centre of the society m
which she moved — ^it would, perhaps, be more
accurate to say over which she reigned She
made no attempt to exact homage, it was given
voluntarily and gladly, and she accepted it as a
matter of course She received as much adula-
tion, probably, as any other woman, but it left
her unspoiled. To the last she preserved a child-
like simplicity and freshness of heart The little
things in life never ceased to interest her and
amuse her An appropriate Christmas card, a
pretty sketch the subject of which was of personal
interest, a quaint vase containing a bunch of
violets or primroses, gave her more pleasure than
costly or pretentious gifts.

The Baroness never lost touch with the younger
generation She did not think that the men and
women of former years had a monopoly of all the
virtues Her faith in human progress remained
unshaken When she compared the world of
her old age with the conditions that obtained in
her youth, it was not to the disadvantage of the
former But there were three disparaging criti-
cisms which she made of the younger generation.
She used to say there were no manners nowadays,
adding, “How can young people learn manners
when there is no one to teach them?” Those
who came under the spell of her gracious per-
sonality, and social charm, will readily understand
this She also thought that one of the tendencies
of modern life was to weaken individuality, to
reduce everyone to a uniform conventional stan-
dard, which left little room for unaffected origin-

24

THE BARONESS BURDETT-COUTTS

ahty,-and accounted for the younger generation
being less interesting than the men and women
she had known in the past

She also disliked the feverish haste and rest-
lessness of modern life, and had little sympathy
with persons who were always in a hurry and who
complained of want of time She would say
“Why should people complain of want of time?
They have all the time there is What more can
they expect?” Notwithstanding her many occu-
pations, her correspondence, her social duties, and
the daily supervision of her household affairs, the
Baroness managed to find time for everything
The greater the pressure the more easily she
appeared able to deal with each matter requiring
her attention This capacity for transacting
business with efficiency and dispatch was the
result of clearness of mind The Baroness never
talked round a subject (except when it suited
her purpose 1) but concentrated her attention
upon the points to be settled

It IS easier to describe individual traits of Lady
Burdett-Coutts’s complex character, than to give
an accurate idea of her character as a whole
Probably no description could succeed in con-
veying an adequate and truthful impression But
there is a passage in John Evelyn’s delightful
Life of Margaret Godolphin which appears to
give the best and most complete picture of the
personality and character of the Baroness, that
words can convey “Never was there a more
loyal wife, a more sincere fnend, a more con-
summate Christian, add to this gracefulness

25

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF

the most becoming Nor was she to be disguised
there was nothing more quick and piercing than
her apprehension, nothing more faithful than her
memory, more solid and mature than her judg-
ment . . And with these solid parts she had
all the advantages of a most sparkling wit, a
natural Eloquence, a gentle and agreeable tone
of voice, and a charming accent when she spake,
whilst the Charms of her countenance were made
up of the greatest innocency, modesty, and good-
ness imaginable, agreeable to the Composure of
her thoughts, and the union of a thousand per-
fections add to all this, she was just, invincible,
secret, ingeniously sincere, faithful to her promises
and to a miracle, temperate, and mistress of her
passions and resolutions . O how delight-
fully entertaining was this Lady, how grave her
discourse, how unlike the Conversation of her
sex! when she was the most facetious, it would
always end in a cheerful composedness the most
becoming in the world, for she was the tenderest
Creature living of taking advantage of another’s
Imperfections, nothing could be more humble
and full of Compassion, nothing more disposed
to all offices of kindness In a word, what per-
fections were scattered amongst others of her sex,
seemed here to be united, and she went every
day improving, shining brighter and ascending
still in virtue ”

After the death of the Baroness Burdett-Coutts
on December the 30th, 1906, nearly 30,000
people passed through the room in which her
body lay in State to pay a last tribute of affection

26

THE BARONESS BURDETT-COUTTS

and respect, and at her funeral Westminster
Abbey was filled with a vast congregation repre-
senting every class and almost every interest of
the English nation.

I I/n I RS OF

C'lrouj v PK KI XS TO TIIF
R\Ko.\J-s JU'KPl n-COUTIS

F ()R ' t *r t* -v'. X %r,ir^ Its tntunijr frlcnd-
T ' c'-s, Ch trie PaJcji nnci

/ * r ' }» t , c.*-C<uit;' , T{rcr« irJ' the

' r 1. *, ci.-t > u” tJir fncnd'-hip

' " i '• ( V ,, I''*t ;; not

ih-" 1 ' I fie O' “icctlnt: cMiirntl}

* fi .( -I »5,c- hmi'c of Mr I (lu ird M.irjon-

h 'ti , «i' r i>l t'’r p-Ttnrr in the Ihiikinp House

»‘'Mr • O ’itt , fo" in n letter to Ml'"'" iJurdett-
O'M' f.orn fini’* Hill Pl'ie, tintcti 'September
5tn, 1 ; , IXi 5 er' v nten

‘‘‘'ometmes ol htc, v hen I Invc been verj'
c> cited b} the crjirii; of two thousind people
over the rrrwc of Rithnrd Wnrdourd new idens
for n stor\ Invc come into ni} hend ns I lay on
the ground, v,ith surprising force and bnllnncc
Ln )t night, being quiet here, I noted them down
in a little bool: I Keep When I went into the

^ A cLincier in T/e Frsz/r Du{i, n pin} b/ WilLic Collins

29

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

dining room and mentioned what I had done,
they all called out ‘Friday!’ I was born on a
Friday, and it is a most astonishing coincidence
that I have never in my life, whatever projects
1 may have determined on otherwise — never
begun a book, or begun anything of interest to
me, or done anything of importance to me, but
it was on a Friday I am certain to be brought
round to Friday It must have been on a Friday
that I first dined with you at Mr. Marjonbanks ”

Readers of Forster’s Life of D tokens may recall
the statement that “Having been away from town
when Pickwick’s first number came out, he made
It a superstition to be absent at many future
similar times” the purchase of the Gadshill
property was completed on a Friday The
phrase “I am certain to be brought round to
Friday” probably referred to the dates of readings
he was to deliver

During this long period Dickens wrote a very
large number of letters to Miss Burdett-Coutts,
and up to 1855 aided and advised her in many
ways He was never formally Miss Burdett-
Coutts’s secretary, but he discharged many of the
more confidential and important duties of a private
secretary, investigated the appeals of many a
begging letter, acted as her almoner, while he
often brought under her notice distressing cases
which she never failed to relieve When he
found that these many duties made too great a

30

LETTERS OR CHARLES DICKENS

capacities and qualities of Trliom lie Trill speak
to you But I have also said to him, as from
myself, that I Trould recommend him also^ to
suggest J-; 77 . self. It is impossible to find a more
zealous^ honourable, or reliable man. Whar you
TTould vrant done rrould be perfect!'^ compatible
Tath his daily pursuits, and easily discharged
alone Trith them Finallv, you need not hare
(for he is perfectly sensible and manly) the least
reluctance to propose it to him as an engage-
ment for a certain remuneration — ^vrhatever you
may have thought of.”

The hlr. Tvllis referred to vras Fir. "Vriiliam
Henry Wills. He mas a man of considerable
literary ability, one of the original stam of
a sub-editor of the D^r;/. under Dickens;

he then became Dickens's secretarr, and after-
wards the assistant editor of irors:

and ot All the Tesr Roui d. An eNcelient man
of business hlr. Wills was able to render many
valuaole semces to AIiss Burdetr-Courcs
Among these one of the most imrortant was
an enquiry he conductec in 1S62 into me
temple povertv existing in the south-west comer
or Ire^anc. As a result of me report he mace
to hliss Buroett-Coutts, re let was gi^er. rartres
or emigrants were sent to Canada, and craduahy
a nsiung inaustrr was organmed. Urforrun-
^te.y, he met witn an accrcent :n the hunnng

e-

THE FAMOUS RAVENS

field in i868j and had to retire from active
work He remained, however, as also did Mrs
Wills, who was the youngest sister of William
and Robert Chambers, the Edinburgh publishers,
personal friends of Miss Burdett-Coutts, during
the remainder of their lives. Mr Wills died
in '1 880, and Mrs Wills in 1892.

Not the least famous character in Barnahy
Rudge was Dickens’s first raven Readers of
Forster’s Ltje of Dtdois may remember the
inimitable letter to Maclise, “under an enormous
black seal,” in which the raven’s death was
described The following extracts refer to the
same event, and to the second raven sent to
Dickens by friends in Yorkshire

DEVONSHIRE TERRACE,

Tuesday^ April the Twentieth^ 1841
DEAR MISS COUTTS,

« • • •

The raven’s body was removed with every re-
gard for my feelings, in a covered basket It
was taken olf to be stuffed, but has not come
home yet He has left a considerable property
(chiefly in cheese and half pence) buried in dif-
ferent parts of the garden, and the new raven —
for I have a successor — administers to the effects
He had buried in one place a brush (which I
have made two efforts to write plainly), a very
large hammer, and several raw potatoes, which

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

Trere discovered yesterday He was very uneasy
just before death, and wandering in his mind
talked amazing nonsense My servant thinks
the hammer troubled him It is supposed to
have been stolen from a carpenter of wndictive
disposition — he was heard to threaten — and I am
not without suspicions of poison

DE\'ONSHIRE TERRACE

'I'-jih October^ 1841.

Some friends in Yorkshire have sent me
a raven, before whom the raven (the dead one)
sinks into insignificance He can say anything —
and he has a power of swallowing doorkeys and
reproducing them at pleasure, which fills all be-
holders with mingled sensations of horror and
delight His infancy and youth have been passed
at a countr}' public house, and I am told that
the sight of a drunken man calls forth his utmost
povers hi} groom is unfortunately sober, and
I n'‘^c had no opportumt}* of testing this cftcct;
but 1 ha\c tola him “to proaidc himsclP’ clsc-
V hc-t, and am looking out for another v ho can
ha\c Cissolmc character from his last master

c

T

* *

-HI*’

, - " 7 ''*”-/ f r,Ai

'' on ^ ^

/f' i^rc.
Ho -

1' . Rwe

MISS HANNAH MEREDITH

(with a respectful croak) that if all the people
who were attentive to the Nepaulese were like
you, he should have nothing to remark upon
But he must take the liberty (he adds) of con-
sidering you as a very different person indeed,
in all things, from the crowd of their admirers
He hopes you may read an article called the
Paper Mill.

The following letter was written shortly before
Dickens’s first visit to the United States ^ We
have no knowledge of “Miss Meredith’s pil-
lows”, but Miss Hannah Meredith was first the
governess and afterwards the life-long companion
and friend of Miss Burdett-Coutts On Decem-
ber 19, 1844, she marned Dr William Brown,
who was the junior partner in the then well-
known medical firm of Tupper, Chilvers, and
Brown in Old Burlington Street, London Dr
Tupper was the father of Martin Tupper of
Proverbial Philosophy fame After Miss Mere-
dith’s marriage to Dr Brown they resided at 80
Piccadilly, a house which joined the residence of
Miss Burdett-Coutts, i Stratton Street, with an
opening cut between the two houses on the ground
floor. Both houses belonged to Miss Burdett-
Coutts, and 80 Piccadilly had been for a time
the residence of her father, Sir Francis Burdett,
and was the house where he was arrested and
taken to the Tower in 1810 Dr Brown died

^ See page 19S

3 ^

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

at Montpellier after a short illness, on October
23rd, 1855 During the last years of her life
Mrs Brown became blind, and was cared for by
Miss Burdett-Coutts with the utmost affection
and solicitude One of the chief alleviations of
her affliction were almost daily visits from Mr
(afterwards Sir) Henry Irving, a close friend of
both ladies, who came to read to Mrs Brown.
Both Dr Brown and his wife are buried m the
chancel of St Stephen’s Church, Westminster,
the church which Miss Burdett-Coutts built in
memory of her father. Sir Francis Burdett, Bart

DEVONSHIRE TERRACE,

Dec lA^th 1841

DEAR MISS COUTTS,

I am sincerely obliged to you for your kind
invitation, but I am obliged, most unfortunately,
to deny myself the pleasure of accepting it
Every day this week I am engaged As I
shall have only a fortnight more when next
Sunday comes, I have “registered a vow” (m
imitation of Mr O’Connell) to pass those four-
teen days at home, and not to be tempted forth.
Having withstood your note and acted so man-
fully in this tr)ing situation, which is a kind of
reversal of Eve and the serpent, I feel that I can
be adamant to everybody else This is the only
comfort I have in the penmanship of these words
"iou vill allow me, notwithstanding, to call

36

FIRST VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES

upon you one morning before I go, to say good-
bye, and to take your orders for any article of
a portable nature in my new line of business —
such as a phial of Niagara water, a neat toma-
hawk, or a few scales of the celebrated sea serpent,
which would perhaps be an improvement on
wnting paper, for Miss Meredith’s pillows.

I beg my compliments to her, and am sincerely
and Faithfully Yours,

CHARLES DICKENS.

The following letter was wntten during
Dickens’s first visit to the United States. Lady
Burdett, for whom he was to gather a pebble
at Niagara, was the mother of Miss Burdett-
Coutts Dickens sailed from Liverpool the 17th
January, 1 842, in the Cunard steamer Britannia,
Captain Hewitt She was, of course, a paddle-
boat The weather dunng the whole crossing
was very stormy, and at one time it was feared
the vessel might be lost While entering Halifax
harbour there was a sudden fog, and the steamer
ran upon a mud-bank, and stuck there all night

BALTIMORE, UNITED STATES

March I'lnd. 1842.

dear MISS COUTTS,

You have long ago discharged from your mind
any favorable opinion you may ever have enter-

37 D

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

tamed of me — and have set me down, I know,
as a neglectful, erratic, promise-breaking, and
most unworthy person.

And yet I have not forgotten the book you
asked me to bring home for you — nor the pebble
I am to gather for Lady Burdett at Niagara —
nor the something unstipulated which I am to
put in my portmanteau for Miss Meredith The
truth IS that they give me everything here, but
Time That they never will leave me alone
That I shake hands every day when I am not
travelling, with five or six hundred people That
Mrs Dickens and I hold a formal Levee in
every town we come to, and usually faint away
(from fatigue) every day while dressing for dinner
— In a word, that we devoutly long for Home,
and look forward to the seventh of next June
when we sail, please God, from New York —
most ardently

I have sent you some newspapers, and I hope
they have reached you They gave me a ball
at New York, at which Three Thousand people
were present — and a public dinner besides — and
another in Boston — and another in a place called
Hartford Others were projected, literally all
through the States, but I gave public notice
that I couldn’t accept them being of mere
flesh and blood, and having only mortal powers
of digestion But I have made an exception

38

A^!ERICAN EXPERIENCES

in favor of one body of readers at St Louis —
a town in the Far West, on the confines of the
Indian tcr^tor)^ I am going there to dinner —
it’s only two thousand miles from here — and
start the day after tomorrow

I look forv'ard to making such an impression
on you with the store of anecdote and descrip-
tion vith which I shall return, that I can’t find
It in my Heart to open it — on paper I don’t
see how I shall ever get nd of my gatherings
It seems to me, at present, that when I come
home I must take a cottage on Putney Heath,
or Richmond Green, or some other wild and
desolate place, and talk to myself for a month
or two, until I have sobered down a little, and
am quiet again A prophetic feeling comes
upon me sometimes, and hints that I shall return,
a bore.

We had a terrible passage out, and we are to
return in a sailing ship Can you think of
anything I can bring back for you? If you can
possibly commission me to bring you any article
whatever from the New country, I need scarcely
say how proud and glad you will make me
Any letter addressed to me to the care of David
Golden Esquire, 28 Laight Street, Hudson
Square, New York, would be forwarded to me
wheresoever I might chance to be at the time
of Its receipt

39

LETTERS OE CHARLES DICKENS

May I ask when you next see Mr. Marjonbanks
to tell him with my best regards, that I thank
him very much for his letters, and have received
the greatest attention from all his correspondents
— except the poor gentleman at Washington —
who has been dead six years. Not finding him
readily (no wonder 1) I went into a bank to ask
for him I happened to make the enquiry of a
very old clerk, who staggered to a stool and fell
into a cold perspiration, as if he had seen a spectre.
Being feeble, and the shock being very great,
he took to his bed — but he has since recovered,
to the great joy of his wife and family

With every good and cordial wish for your
health and happiness — many messages of regard
to Miss Meredith — and very many scruples of
conscience in sending you so poor a letter from
so long a distance — I am always, Dear Miss
Coutts

With true regards
Faithfully Your obliged friend

CHARLES DICKENS

PS. I forgot to say that I have been at
Washington (which is beyond here) and as far
beyond that, again, as Richmond in Virginia
But the prematurely hot weather, and the sight
of slaves, turned me back

40

THROES OF AUTHORSHIP

Tile book for wlucii Dickens was in the
“agonies of plotting and contnving” was Martin
Chuzzlewit.

DEVONSHIRE TERRACE.

Twelfth November 1842.

MY DEAR MISS COUTTS

Your most kind note found me in the agonies
of plotting and contriving a new book, in which
stage of the tremendous process I am accustomed
to walk up and down the house, smiting ray
forehead dejectedly, and to be so hornbly cross
and surly, that the boldest fly at my approach
at such times, even the Postman knocks at the
door with a mild feebleness, and my publishers
always come two together, lest I should fall upon
a single invader and do murder on his intrusive
body

I am afraid if I came to see you under such
circumstances, you would be very glad to be nd
of me in two hours at the most, but I would risk
even that disgrace, in my desire to accept your
kind Invitation, if it were not indispensable just
now, that I should be always in the way In
starting a work which is to last for twenty months
there are so many little things to attend to, which
require my personal superintendence, that I am
obliged to be constantly on the watch , and I may

41

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

add, seriously, that unless I were to shut myself
up, obstinately and sullenly in my own room for
a great many days without writing a word, I don’t
think I ever should make a beginning

For these reasons, I am fain to be resolute and
virtuous, and to deny myself and Mrs Dickens
the great pleasure you offer us I have not
answered your letter until now, because I have
really been tempted and hesitating. But the
lapse of every new day only gives me a stronger
reason for being perseveringly uncomfortable,
that out of my gloom and solitude, something
comical (or meant to be) may straightway grow up
If you should still be in your present retreat
when I have got my first number written (after
which, I go on with great nonchalance) we shall
be more than glad to come to you for one or two
days. In the meantime Mrs Dickens begs me
to add her best remembrances to my own , and
to say that if you can oblige her with your box
at Covent Garden on any of Miss Kemble’s
nights, she will be very thankful

I am always, Dear Miss Coutts,

Yours faithfully and obliged

CHARLES DICKENS.

It is impossible for me to say how I should
argue with Miss Meredith, under existing cir-
cumstances

42

TKTIMOMAL TO MACRE^\Dy

To the fund niscd as a public tribute to
Macrcadv, Miss Burdett-Coutts \\as of course a
generous donor For his benefit in 1843 Mac-
rcid\ plaj cd Benedick and Comus Shendan
Knovslcs’s pin in which Macrcady

plijcd the name part, was first produced on
Ma\ 17th, t8co, and was a striking success
Lord Lansdownc (17S0— 1863) succeeded his
half-brother as third marquis in 1809 sup-

ported the abolition of the Slave Trade, and
broucht about a coalition between a section of
the \\ higs and the followers of Canning. He
was several times a member of the Cabinet,
gcnerallj without office

DEVOKSHIRE TERRACE

Twony Eighth February 1843

DEAR MISS COUTTS,

I don’t know whether you may happen to
remember that there was a Public subscription
some two or three years ago, for the purchase
of a Testimonial to Macready, m honor of his
exertions to elevate the National Drama How-
ever, there was a handsome piece of plate was
designed and made, and is at last to be presented
by the Duke of Sussex m the course of the ensuing
month

But the failure of Hammersley’s Bank, and the
consequent loss of a part of the money, has
rendered a second subscription necessary Being

43

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

a member of the committee, and casting about to
whom It would be right to apply, I have naturally
thought of you. Firstly, because I know you are
attached to the most rational of all amusements,
and secondly, because in the horrible indifference
to It which prevails among people of influence
and station, any support from you cannot fail to
be at once most valuable to the cause, and most
gratifying and cheering to Macready himself
Therefore, if you see no objection to aiding the
object (a much higher one than the froth of the
world suppose) I shall be most proud and glad to
act as your secretary or steward in the matter.
Lord Lansdownc is one of the very few men in
high places, who have dealt with it as they should
There be some (whose titles would startle you)
who have put down their names with round sums
attached, but have not put down their money ,
in consequence of which, I am in danger of
turning misanthropical, Byronic, and devilish.

1 hope )ou liked the Much Ado — and the
Comus — and that )ou will go to sec Fir^thttis
nc\t Monday If you were not pleased last
Friday, I shill certainly' carry my misanthropical
impulses into effect, and leave off my neckcloth
V ithout further notice

Dear M iss Coutts,

Ahvays Yours faithfully,

CH \rn s DicKf' s,

n

ANTIPATHY TO LADY SALE

DEV’ON’SHIRE TERRACE.

T'jocuty Ft} r/ Mm ch 1843
. . Macrcady has been so much pleased by
your approval and support, and is a man who
while he courts nobody, feels such encouragement
with great keenness, that I shall be glad to
present him to }ou, if )ou will dine here I
know you \m11 like him, as a private gentleman,
CNCCcdingl)

The Lady Sale whom Dickens renounced for
ever, was Florcntia, the daughter of George Wynch
and the wife of Sir Robert Henry Sale, the dis-
tinguished soldier, whose services in India and
Afghanistan earned him the title of “Fighting
Bob ” In 1 843 Lady Sale published her journal,
descnbing her suffenngs, capture, and escape in
Afghanistan Her son-in-law, Lieutenant J D
L Sturt of the Engineers, died of wounds on
January 9th, 1842, during the retreat of the
British force from Kabul

The reason of Dickens’s antipathy to Lady Sale
IS unknown She is described as a typical soldier’s
wife, whatever that may mean, and was evidently
physically strong and courageous , and as she is
alleged repeatedly to have led our troops in
Afghanistan — a statement which she denies in the
preface to her Journal — she may have had an
aggressive personality Be that as it may, she at

45

THEODORt HOOK

apartment }ou write of, on Sunday next; there
will I be. I have pondered and reflected about
the best time Some thing seems to point in my
mind to 3 But if that something be wrong by
the Horse Guards, all times arc alike to me in
such a pleasant ease, and an anonymous figure
received b) post in the course of to-morrow, will
be perfectly understood and gratefully attended to
There is a terrible paper on Theodore Hook,
in the last QuauerJy — admirably written — as I
think, from its internal evidence, by Lockhart.
I have not seen anything for a long time so very
moving It fills me with grief and sorrow Men
have been chained to hideous walls and other
strange anchors ere now, but few have known
such suffering and bitterness at one time or other,
as those who have been bound to Pens. A
pleasant thought for me who has been using this
very quill all day 1

Edward William Elton (1794-1843), an excel-
lent actor, the original Beauseant in Bulwer
Lytton’s play, The Lady of Lyons , his most success-
ful role was Edgar in Lear When he was return-
ing from Edinburgh, on board the Pegasus^ the
ship struck a rock near Holy Island, and he was
drowned His death caused a strong sensation
Out of fifty-three persons on board, only six were
saved.

47

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

DEVONSHIRE TERRACE,

Twenty Sixth July, 1843.

DEAR MISS COUTTS,

I don’t know whether you have seen an
advertisement in the papers of this morning,
signed by me, and having reference to the
family of Mr. Elton the actor, who was drowned
in the Pegasus. I consented last night to act
as chairman of a committee for the assistance
of his children and I assure you that their
condition is melancholy and desolate beyond all
painting

He was a struggling man through his whole
existence — always very poor, and never extrava-
gant. His wife died mad, three years ago, and
he was left a widower with seven children — ^who
were expecting his knock at the door, when a
friend arrived with the terrible news of his
Death

If in the great extent of your chanties, you
have a niche left to fill up, I believe in my heart
this IS as sad a case as could possibly be put into
It If you have not, I know you will not mind
saying so to me

Do not trouble yourself to answer this, as I
will call upon you to day between one and two
I called on Sunday last, to enquire after Miss
Meredith, but seeing your carriage at the door,

I left my card. By the way — lingering at the

48

TRAGIC DEATH OF E. W. ELTON

Street corner, was a very strange looking fellow,
watching your house intently
Dear Miss Coutts,

always Yours faithfully & obliged

CHARLES DICKENS.

I DEVONSHIRE TERRACE

Twenty Eighth July 1843
I will not attempt to tell you what I felt, when
I received your noble letter last night

Trust me that I will be a faithful steward of
your bounty, and that there is no charge in the
wide world I would accept with so much pride
and happiness as any such from you

I should be uneasy if I did not let you know
that your letter being put in my hands at the
Freemasons’ last night where the committee were
sitting, I told them what it contained, before I
arrived at your injunction of secresy. But the
gentlemen who were there, were far too much
impressed by what I had conveyed to them ever
to betray your confidence, I am sure I can
answer for that

Charles James Mathews (1803-78), actor,
dramatist, theatrical manager Thomas Shngsby
Duncombe (1796— 1861), Radical politician, who
in 1 842 presented the Chartist petition Alfred
Bunn (1796-1860), was in 1843 manager of

49

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

Drury Lane and Covent Garden theatres As he
had published verses, he was satirically nicknamed
“Poet Bunn ” He is said to have supplied
Thackeray with material for the character of Mr
Dolphin, the manager, in Fendenms

BROADSTAIRS, KENT.

Monday Seventh August 1843
I went up to town last Thursday to preside at
a meeting of the Committee for poor Mr Elton’s
children; but as I came back here next morning,
I had no opportunity of calling on you

Owing to the offensive conduct of Mr. Charles
Mathews and his estimable lady, we were unable
to use either Harley, the Keeleys, Mrs Nisbett,
or Mrs Stirling, at the Haymarket, although they
had all been previously announced with Mr
Webster’s full consent The consequence was,
that we were obliged at the last moment to alter
an excellent bill, and the entertamments were
very trash You will be glad to hear, however,
that the receipts were ,^280, a very large sum in
that Theatre, which when crammed to the very
utmost will not hold more than ;^300 Including
this sum, we had in hand on Thursday night,
hard upon a thousand pounds since which time
the benefit at the Surrey (the only return I have
yet had) has produced a hundred and forty

50

CAKE OF MR ELTON^’s CHILDRE:^

pounds more, and some additional private sub-
scnptions have also come in

Finding it exceedingly difficult in the midst of
their trouble to arnve with an}-thing like tolerable
certainty at the weekly expenses of the family,
last Thursday, I placed ,^10 — the ten you sent
me — in the hands of a lady who knows them and
can be trusted to make a careful report and
begged her to account to me for it, and to get me
an estimate by the time we meet again (next
Monday) of their average bills Before I see you
on that head, I will visit the children myself
For I wish particularly to speak to the eldest girl
about It, and to be very careful that your assistance
IS free from the controul of any relation or fnend
but such as she knows can be thoroughly trusted,
and IS kindly disposed towards them I fancy
I have observed some slight signs and tokens,
which render this precaution indispensable
This httle place is very bnght and beautiful —
and I wish you and your Patient could see it this
morning. I have been here six years, and have
never had a Piano next door, but this fortune
was too good to last, and now there is one close
to the little bay window of the room I wnte in,
which has six years’ agony in every note it utters
I have been already obliged to take refuge on the
other side of the house, but that looks mto a
street where the “Flies” stand, and where there

51

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

are donkeys and drivers out of number Their
music IS almost as bad as the other, and between
the two, I was driven into such a state of despera-
tion on Saturday, that I thought I must have run
away and deserted my family The matter was
not mended when the paper came down, with Mr
Thomas Duncombe’s tribute to the character and
acquirements of Mr. Bunn . which so exasperated
me (though the two gentleman are well worthy
of each other’s friendship) that I walked ten miles
over burning chalk, before I could resume the
least composure

Charley and two hundred and fifty other chil-
dren, are making fortifications in the sand with
wooden spades, and picking up shells and sea
weeds He is still full of his last visit to you,
and brightened up like burnished copper at
breakfast when I asked him if he had any message
to send If I thought his love would do (he
said) he should like to forward it So I promised
to convey it to you, in due form I have some
idea of writing him a child’s History of England,
to the end that he may have tender-hearted
notions of War and Murder, and may not fix
his affections on wrong heroes, or see the bnght
side of Glory’s sword and know nothing of the
rusty one If I should carry it out, I shall
live in the hope that you will read it one wet
day

52

EL1Z.\BETH BROWNRIGG

Nell was one of the many children for whose
start in life Miss Burdett-Coutts provided.
Dickens’s reference to the crime of Elizabeth
Brownrigg as a matter apparently of common
knowledge, seventy-six years after it was com-
mitted, shows how deep an impression was made
upon the public mind by the story of her terrible
cruelties to her apprentices. She was a midwife
living in Fleur dc Lys Court, Fleet Street,
London, and about 1765 was appointed midwife
for the parish workhouse of St Dunstan’s in the
West She had three apprentices, whom she
treated in the most inhuman manner, and to one
of them, Mary Clifford, her cruelties were so
great as to cause death Elizabeth Brownrigg
was tried, found guilty, and hanged at Tyburn,
September 14th, 1767 Her skeleton was ex-
posed in a niche at Surgeons’ Hall in the Old
Bailey, that the heinousness of her cruelty might
make a more lasting impression on the minds of
the spectators

The President was an American steamer which
sailed from New York for Liverpool March 21st,
1841 She was sighted on March 24th, but was
never seen or heard of again

Tyrone Power (1797-1891) was a clever Irish
comedian who went down in the President

DEVONSHIRE TERRACE Second November 1843
Nell distracts me It unfortunately hap-
pens that there is no Institution (that I know of,

S 3 E

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

or can find out, at least) where such a girl could
learn a trade. This throws one on a choice of
trades Then I think of tambour-working —
then of stay-making — then of shoe-binding —
then of ready made linening — then of Millinery —
then of straw Bonnet making — then of Mrs.
Brownrigge — then of surplus labor — and then I
give It up with a headache

Would It not be a good plan, first, to find out
what the child thinks herself, and then to cast
about among your servants for instance, whether
they have not some friend or relation who is, or
who knows some other friend or relation who is,
in a respectable little way of business that would
do for her? I could very easily find out, by
personal inspection, whether it promised well
None of our former handmaidens are settled in
any trade, except a most respectable cook, who
married from us (in a cab — No 74) and keeps a
thriving shop, I am told, “in the general line ’’
But there seems to be nothing to learn m the
general line, except making up infimtessimal
parcels of pepper, and chopping soap into little
blocks — and she can do that now, I dare say
There’s half a bonnet-shop in Tottenham Court
Road, with an Inscription in the window m these
words “Wonted a feamail Prentis with a
premum ” wouldn’t do, perhaps?

This day week, I shall have paid the Eltons,

54

max’s INHUMANm' TO MAN

the full nmount }ou gave me One of the poor
girls IS ver)' ill, I am sorr)’’ to say, and seems con-
sumpti\e Did }ou see the cruel hoax of the
bottle? We have the slip of paper which was
shut up m It, and it is not (they tell me) in his
handwriting, or at all like it What strange
minds those must be, which can find delight in
such intolerable cruelties — for which, and which
only, if I had my will, I would flog at the church
doors. After the Ptessdoit went down, Mrs
Power had some new letter, almost every day,
sa}nng that he had landed in Ireland, and was
sta)ing at the Wnter’s house!

The Christmas story which was to make Miss
Burdett-Coutts cry was ''The Chimes, a goblin
story of some bells that rang an Old Year out
and a New Year in ” The story was illustrated
by Maclise, Doyle, Leech, and Clarkson Stanfield
In a letter of April 30th, 1844, Dickens ex-
plained to Clarkson Stanfield that “the sanatonum
or sick-house is for students, governesses, clerks,
young artists and so forth, who are above hos-
pitals, and not rich enough to be well attended
in illness in their own lodgings " It has proved
impossible to ascertain where this “Sanatorium or
Sick House” existed, and it is not improbable that
out of It grew the much more ambitious scheme
for the benefit of writers, artists and others, known
as “The Guild of Literature and Art,” some par-

55

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

ticulars of which are given in the introduction to
the letter of March 20th, 1851.

The little book by a working man, was
t 7 igs of a Workvig Ma7Jy being the occupation of his
scanty leisure. By John Overs. With a Preface
relative to the Author, by Charles Dickens.
London, T C Newby, 1844” Overs was a self-
educated working man, a carpenter, who sent
Dickens some verses Dickens had known him
for about six years, and wrote the preface to a
collection of short stones, which were published
to help to provide for an ailing wife and a young
family

Dickens did not at first make his headquarters
in Italy, at the Palazzo Peschiere, as he had in-
tended, but on the advice of a fnend took the
Villa di Bella Vista, at Albaro, a suburb of Genoa.
The invalid lady referred to was Miss Meredith,
Miss Burdett-Coutts’s life-long friend

PIAZZA COFFEE HOUSE, COVENT GARDEN

Sunday December Eighth 1844*

I have been in town a very few days, and leave
It again, and start for Italy, tonight I hoped to
have seen you as a matter of course, but when
I had disposed of the business part of my Chnst-
mas Book (vhich mainly brought me here, and
imprisoned me at the Printer’s two days) I had
some arrangements to make for the cxtncation
of some unhappj people from circumstances of

56

A DESTITUTE \\IFE AND SIX CHILDREN

great distress and perplexity, which have occupied
my vholc time, so that I have seen no one, and
gone nowhere

I had the greatest pleasure some months ago,
m the receipt of your interesting letter from
Germany I was going to answer it with some
account of my Italian adventvires, but as soon as
I had any to narrate, the time had come for my
sitting down to my little book, and when I got up
again, it was to come here I hope you will like
those Chimes which will be published on the i6th
and though I am not malicious, I am bent on
making you cry, or being most horribly disap-
pointed

The Sanatorium Committee have informed me
of your munificent donation to that Establishment
There is not in England an Institution whose
design IS more noble, useful, and excellent I
know some little histones connected with that
place, and the blessing it has proved in sickness
and Death, which are among the most affecting
incidents that have ever come within my ob-
servation

You may possibly have seen a Preface I wrote,
before leaving England, to a little book by a
Working Man, and may have learned from the
newspapers that he is dead leaving a destitute
wife and six children, of whom one is a cripple
I have addressed a letter to the Governors of the

57

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

Orphan Working School in behalf of the eldest
boy and they tell me he has a good chance of
being elected into that Institution in April next
It has occurred to me that at some time or other
you might have an opportunity of presenting one
of the Girls to some other school or chanty, and
as I know full well that in such an event you
would rather thank than blame me for making a
real and strong case known to you, I send you
the Childrens’ names and ages

Amelia Overs 1 1 years old
John Richard 9
Harriett 7
Geraldine 6
Editha 4

John 4 months

They live, at present, at 55 Vauxhall Street,
Lambeth

My head quarters in Italy are at Genoa where
we live m a Palace (the Palazzo Peschiere) some-
thing larger than Whitehall multiplied by four,
and where Charley and his Giant sisters play
among orange Trees and Fountains all day long
They were particularly anxious when I came
away, that I should give their loves to you, and
they entrusted me with the Private commission
that I should ascertain whether “That Lady” was
still in bed upstairs In pursuing my enquiries
on this head, I have received information in

58

VENICE AND VERONA

reference to that lady, which has quite delighted
me, and not at all surprised me I hope I may
still live in her memory; and that I may venture
to send her my regards and congratulations
I have been to Modena, Parma, Bologna,
Ferrara, Cremona, Venice, and a hundred other
places Florence, Rome, Naples, and Palermo lie
before me I never could have believed in, and
never did imagine, the full splendour and glory
of Venice That wonderful dream The three
days that I passed there, were like a Thousand
and One Arabian Nights wildly exaggerated a
thousand and one times. I read Romeo and Juhet
in Verona too, and bought some tooth-ache mix-
ture of an apothecary m Mantua, lean enough
and poor enough to “go on” in the Tragedy I
came to England by the Simplon — sledging
through the snow upon the top — and through
Switzerland, which was cool But beautiful and
grand, beyond expression. I shall remain in
Pans — at the Hotel Brighton — until Fnday
Evening next, and if at that place or at any
other, you could give me any commission to
execute for you, I need not say how happy it
would make me

The steps where there used formerly to be a
daily gathering of artists’ models are the magni-

S9

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

ficent flight which leads from the Piaxza di
Spagna to the Church of SS Trinita de ’Monti.
The first house on the right of these steps is where
Keats died, and is now the Keats-Shelley Memonal
House

The Reverend Sydney Smith (1771-1 845), one
of the wittiest Englishmen of any age, was
honoured for his manliness and honesty. He was
one of the founders of The Edtnhufgh Review.

Thomas Hood (1799-1845), the fnend of
Lamb, Hazlitt, and De Quincey, a great poet
whose genius has never been adequately recog-
nized, for while “The Song of the Shirt,” and
“The Bridge of Sighs” have justly retained their
popularity, such a great poem as “The Haunted
House” is almost unknown Dickens pays no
more than an adequate tribute to him when he
writes that he was a man “of prodigious force and
genius as a poet ” “The lady” was Mrs Brown
{jiie Mereditli)

ROME Eighteenth March 1845.
MY DEAR MISS couTTS, I am Very much afraid
that the date of this letter will contrast, to my
disadvantage, with the date of Twelfth Night;
which you made a proud night for Charley in
Genoa, and a happy night to me in the more
secret quarter of my own breast, by your kind
and generous remembrance But I have been
so constantly and incessantly on the wmg since

60

ATROCIOUS WEATHER IN ITALY

that great finale of the Christmas Holidays, and
have been so cold, and so wet, and so muddy,
and so cverjThing which is currently supposed
to be incompatible wnth Italy — and have been
into such cxtraordinar}' places, and have eaten
such unaccountable meals, and have slept in such
incredible beds, and have led altogether such a
wild preposterous life — that I have not had the
heart to WTite to you, lest my letter, partaking in
some degree of the character of my existence,
should be of too vagabond a nature for delivery
at your door

Before I left Genoa, I had all the knives locked
up, feanng that Charley would otherwise in the
excitement of his feelings, lay hands upon a sharp
one, and do himself a mischief — I don’t mean
with any evil design upon his life, but in the
endeavour to make a pen wherewith to write a
note to you. The intention was so very active
within him that I should have allowed him to
gratify it, but for his writing being something
large for the Foreign Post, which, at his rate of
penmanship, would hardly carry more than his
name But I gave him a solemn promise that
I would thank you twenty thousand times That
I would report him tolerant of Italian life and
manners, but not attached to them yielding a
strong preference to those of his own country
That I would say he never could forget his ride

6i

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

With you to Hampstead That I would tell you
that such a thing as a Twelfth cake was never
seen in Genoa before, and that when it went to
a Swiss Pastry-cook’s in that City, to have the
sugar repaired (it was a very little chipped at
one corner) it was exhibited to the principal In-
habitants, as a wonder and Marvel That I
would give his love and his sisters’ loves to “that
lady’’, and would add that 1 had at length suc-
ceeded in impressing on their minds the great
truth that she didn’t always live in bed That
I would say that he looked forward to coming
with me to see and thank you on our return to
England And that I would be sure to tell you
a great deal more, which I will not inflict upon
you on any account

The weather has been atrocious ever since I
returned from England at Chnstmas I do not
think I ever felt it so cold as between this place
and Naples, about a month ago. Between
Naples and Paestum too, three weeks ago, with
a cold North wind blowing over mountains
covered with snow, it was quite intolerable
Within the last three days, there have been
glimpses of Spring I will not say more, in the
fulness of my heart, for experience has taught
me that tomorrow may be deep in winter again
I have certainly seen more Sun in England,
between the end of December and the middle of

62,

IMPRESSIONS OF ITALY

March, than I have seen in Italy in that time,
and for violent and sudden changes, there is
surely no country in the world more remarkable
than this When it is fine (as people say) it is
very fine — so beautiful, that the really good days
blot out the recollection of the bad ones But I
do honestly believe that it is not oftener fine here,
than It IS elsewhere, and that we are far better
off at home in that respect, than anything short
of the rack, would induce most people to confess
In the mass, I like the common people of
Italy, very much — the Neapolitans least of all,
the Romans next, for they are fierce and brutal
Not falling on very good specimens of the higher
orders, in the beginning, I have not pursued
that Enquiry. I have had no leisure to do so,
if I had had the inclination, so I have avoided
them as much as possible, and have kept the
greater part of my letters of introduction in my
own desk Florence I have not yet seen in-
tending to take It, next week, on my way back
to Genoa But of all the places I have seen, I
like Venice, Genoa, and Verona, most The
Bay of Genoa has charms, in my eyes, which the
Bay of Naples wants. The city of Genoa is
very picturesque and beautiful, and the house we
live in, IS really like a Palace in a Fairy Tale
I cannot remember, to my satisfaction, whether
you were ever at Herculaneum and Pompeii

63

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKER’S

Though my impression is, that I have heard you
speak of them. The interest and wonder of
those ruined places, far exceeded my utmost
expectations Venice was such a splendid Dream
to me, that I can never speak of it, — ^from sheer
inability to describe its effect upon my mind
The ancient parts of Rome, and a portion of the
Campagna, are ‘lo'hat I meant when I came here;
the rest a little below my imaginary mark, and
very unlike it The Coliseum by daylight,
moonlight, torchlight, and every sort of light,
most stupendous and awful Saint Peter’s not
so impressive within, as many cathedrals I have
seen at home The great altar, and the state
entrance to the subterranean church might be
Rundell and Badge’s show-room And the
canopies, hangings, and carpets (of all sorts of
reds and greens) now hung up, and put down,
for the Holy- Week ceremonies, have the effect
of an enormous Bon-bon. Before which, and
round which, and indeed out of which, they are
perpetually carrying the poor old Pope about on
men’s shoulders, like a gorgeous Guy Faux
The drollest thing I have seen, is a daily
gathering of artists’ “Models” on the steps of a
church near the house (Meloni’s Hotel) in which
we hve where they dispose themselves in con-
ventionally picturesque attitudes, and wait to be
hired as sitters The first time I went up there,

64

artists’ models in ROME

I could not conceive how their faces were familiar
to me — how they seemed to Jiavc bored me, for
many years, in ever)' variety of action and costume
— and to come back upon my sight as perfect
nightmares At last it flashed upon me all at
once that we had made acquaintance, and im-
proved It, on the walls of the Royal Academy
So we had indeed. And there is not one among
them ovhom )ou wouldn’t know, at first sight,
as yell as the statue at Charing Cross. The
most aggravating of the party is a dismal old
patriarch, yath very long white hair and beard,
who carries a great staff in his hand, which staff
has been faithfully copied at the Exhibition in
all Its twists and knots, at least once through the
catalogue. He is the venerable model. Another
man in a sheepskin, who always lies asleep in
the sun (when there is any) is the Pastoral Model
Another man in a brown cloak who leans against
a wall with his arms folded, is the assassin model
Another man who looks over his shoulder and
always seems to be going away, but never goes,

IS the haughty model Several women and
children form the family models, and the cream
of the whole is, that they are one and all the
falsest rascals in Rome or out of it • being specially
made up for their trade, and having no likeness
among the whole population It is a good
illustration of the student life as it is, that young

65

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

men should go on copying these people elabor-
ately time after time, and time out of mind, and
find nothing fresh or suggestive in the actual
world about them.

My English papers tell me of the death of
Sydney Smith, whom I deeply regret. I also
hear privately, that Hood, the author, is past all
chance of recovery. He was (I have a sad pre-
sentiment that even now I may speak of him as
something past) a man of great power — of
prodigious force and genius as a poet — and not
generally known perhaps, by his best credentials
Personally he had a most noble and generous
spirit When he was under the pressure of
severe misfortune and illness, and I had never
seen him, he went far out of his way to praise
me, and wrote (in the Athena urn) a paper on
The Curiosity Shop^ so full of enthusiasm and
high appreciation, and so free from any taint of
envy or reluctance to acknowledge me a young
man far more fortunate than himself, that I can
hardly bear to think of it

I hope to be in Genoa again before the middle
of next month , and have arranged to leave there
and turn homeward, in the middle of June
Whether we may linger on the way in France
or Switzerland, I do not yet qmte know But
in that case it is probable that I may run on to
London for two or three days to preside at a

GEOF.GE CPtlKSHAKK

Public Dinner in aid of the Sanatorium I shall
hope to see vou then, at latest, unless (I wish
there were anv hope of it!) vou should be coraine
Gc noa-wav, and would give me a chance of
shewing you the Peschicre orange trees.

In any case when I am among them again, I
shall trouble you with at least one more of
Charley’s messages, and a few words of my own.
For I fear that I may otherwise (not undeservedly)
pass out of your remembrance; and behc-e me
Dear Miss Coutts there are not many memones
from which it would give me so much pain to
faae, as from yours I rate its worth too
highly.

Ever Yours faithfully,

Ciir.RLES DICKE^-S

P.S Mrs Dickens begs to unite in best
regards to yourself, and “the lady” — ^who is
well, I hope — and happy, I know. I hope you
cried when you read the Cktfr.es

DEVOn'SHIRE TERRr.CE

Seventeersk September 18^.5^

. . . With a smaller sum, my dear Miss Coutts,
I think I can do, on your behalf, an mfinitely
greater service. George Cruikshank came to
me some weeks ago, and told me the facts of the

67

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

melancholy little history I am going to state to
you. He asked me if I thought I could influence
any rich friend in the sufferer’s behalf You
were not in the way. I do not know that I
should have had the courage to come to you, if
you had been, and I told him. No; I could not
then; but if I ever could, I would I should
premise that Cruikshank is one of the best
creatures in the world m his own odd way (he is
a live cancature himself), and that to the extent
of his means, he had rendered assistance here,
already, from his own purse

I don’t know if you ever saw a book called
Mornings at Bow Street It is a collection of
Bow Street reports that appeared, years and
years ago, in the Morning Herald^ and did the
paper immense service at that time. The writer
is a Mr White, who from that time until very
recently, has been connected with the Herald
as one of its sub-editors The paper changed
hands within this year and a Half^ or so — he
was not wanted in the new arrangements — and
at 6o years of age was suddenly discharged, with
a month’s salary, from the establishment that had
not only been his income but his whole prospect ,
for he thought himself (quite naturally) a leaf of
the tree, and believed he would never be shaken
off until he died. He had lived upon his salary,
but had done no more — I really don’t see how

68

A SAP <ronr

he coula hn\c done more — nnd this ams a blow,
"IS if his Bank had faded, or he had become
paniw. cd

His daughter had been engaged to be married,
A.r/ief Her lo%cr \%as not rich — aaas

f.ghting his aery sloulj, to the Bar — and

thca had always said the\ would be married
vhen he was ‘called’ After all these many
acars, he was called, at last, and her wedding
clothes were being made, when one night, (just
at the time of this discharge) after they had been
to the opera together, he went home to his
chambers and was seized with congestion of the
Brain In a \cr) few hours she was sent for
If she wished to see him before he died, the
message said, she must come without delay.
She was taken down to the Adclphi (where the
chambers were) by her mother, and they arrived
in the Bedroom, just in time to see him die
Quite frantic, she ran out of the chamber, opened
a window, four tall stones high, and plunged
herself, head-foremost from it! By a kind of
miracle, she fell into a tank of water at the back
of one of the neighbounng houses, and was
taken out, insensible, but unhurt Since that
time, she has been watched, day and night
Her mother has never been told the Truth, but
the father knows it The poor girl sits all day
in a sort of dream, repeating litde scraps of

69 F

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

comfort from the Bible. She has never shed a
tear

The wretched father is oppressed with some
small debts. But they are very small, and if he
could release his plate, which he has pawned
for Thirty Pounds, I have no doubt Cruikshank
could compound for every one of them with the
produce of its sale, and then he could, with an
easier mind, seek some employment or at the
- worst, go away to live with his son who is a poor
curate — I think in Wales. My dear Miss
Coutts, these are all miserable facts within my
knowledge. Thirty Pounds here, will be like
Help from Heaven There is no possibility of
imposition, Cruikshank has known the parties
twenty years at least, and the circumstances
surely are peculiarly affecting and distressful
My letter is so long already, that I will tell of
the other Eltons^ in my next We have never
had the least trouble with them, and they are
all as well, as happy, and as full of promise —
thank God for it! — as we could possibly desire

DEVONSHIRE TERRACE Seventh January 1 846
. I see almost daily, in those sources of in-
telligence [newspapers] the most prodigious
accounts of my occupations, invitations, &c &c ,
which are all so new to me that they make my
hair stand on end

^ The children of E W Elton, the actor, drowned in 1 843

70

THE DAILY NEWS

DEVONSHIRE TERRACE

Wednesday^ Twenty Second April 1 846
Until within a fortnight or three weeks
ago, I have retained the intention of entering
Charley in May [at King’s College] But
since then, I have conceived the idea of going
to Switzerland for a year Firstly, because I am
most desirous to separate myself in a marked
way from the Daily News (with which I have
long since ceased to have any connexion, and in
connecting myself with which at all, I have no
doubt I made a mistake). Secondly, because I
have a long book to write, which I could write
better in retirement Thirdly, because I want
to get up some mountain knowledge in all
the four seasons of the year, for purposes of
fiction

In 1 846 Miss Burdett-Coutts decided to estab-
lish a Home for Women in the West End of
London, and among those she first consulted was
Dickens, who spared neither time nor trouble in
furtherance of die scheme

DEVONSHIRE TERRACE,

Twenty Sixth May 1 846.

. In reference to the Asylum, it seems to
me very expedient that you should know, if

71

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

possible, whether the Government would assist
you to the extent of informing you from time to
time into what distant parts of the World, women
could be sent for marriage, with the greatest
hope for their future families, and with the
greatest service to the existing male population,
whether expatnated from England or born
there. If these poor women could be sent
abroad with the distinct recognition and aid of
the Government, it would be a service to the
effort But I have (with reason) a doubt of all
Governments in England considering such a
question in the light in which men undertaking
that immense responsibility, are bound, before
God, to consider it And therefore I would
suggest this appeal to you, merely as something
which you owe to yourself and to the experi-
ment, the failure of which, does not at all affect
the immeasurable goodness and happiness of the
project Itself.

I do not think it would be necessary, in the
first instance at all events, to build a house for
the Asylum There arc many houses, either in
London or in the immediate neighbourhood,
that could be altered for the purpose It would
be necessary' to limit the number of inmates, but
I would make the reception of them as cas} as
possible to themselves I vould put it in the
pover of an) Go\ernor of a London Prison to

A HOME FOR FALLEN WOMEN

send an unhappy creature of this kind (by her
own choice of course) straight from his prison,
when her term expired, to the asylum I would
put It in the power of any penitent creature to
knock at the door, and say For God’s sake, take
me in But I would divide the intenor into two
portions; and into the first portion I would put
all new-comers without exception, as a place of
probation, whence they should pass, by their own
good conduct and self-denial alone, into what I
may call the Society of the house I do not
know of any plan, so well conceived, or so firmly
grounded in a knowledge of human nature, or
so judiciously addressed to it, for observance in
this place, as what is called Captain Macon-
nochie’s Mark System, which I will try very
roughly and generally, to describe

A woman or girl coming to the asylum, it is
explained to her that she has come there for
usejul repentance and reform, and means her
past way of life has been dreadful in its nature
and consequences, and full of affliction, misery,
and despair to herself Never mind society
while she is at that pass Society has used her
ill and turned away from her, and she cannot
be expected to take much heed of its rights or
wrongs It IS destructive to herself, and there
IS no hope in it, or in her, as long as she pursues
It It is explained to her that she is degraded

73

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

and fallen, but not lost, having this shelter, and
that the means of Return to Happiness are nov
about to-be put into her ovrn hands, and trusted
to her ovrn keeping That vrith this ■\Tevr, she
IS instead of being placed in this probationary
class for a month, or tvo months, or three
months, or any speafied time vrhatever, re-
quired to earn there a certain number of Marks
(they are mere scratches in a book) so that she
may make her probation a very short one, or a
very long one, according to her ovrn conduct.
For so much vrork, she has so many marks, for
a dav’s ffood conduct, so manv more For
every instance of ill-temper, disrespect, bad
language, any outbreak of any sort or kind, so
many — ^a very large number in proportion to
her receipts — are deducted A perfect Debtor
and Creditor account is kept between her and
the Superintendent, for every day; and the state
of that account, it is in her own power and no-
body else’s, to adjust to her advantage. It is
expressly pointed out to her, that before she
can be considered quahfied to return to any kind
of societ}* — even to the Society of the asylum — •
she must give proofs of her power of self-restraint
and her smeenty, and her determination to try
to shew that she deserves the confidence it is
proposed to place in her Her pnde, emulation,
her sense of shame, her heart, her reason, and

74

HIS INTEREST IN THE HOME

her interest, are all appealed to at once, and if
she pass through this trial, she must (I believe
It to be in the eternal nature of things) rise
somewhat in her own self-respect, and give the
Managers a power of appeal to her, in future,
which nothing else could invest them with I
would carry a modification of this mark system
through the whole establishment, for it is its
great philosophy and its chief excellence that it
IS not a mere form or course of training adapted
to the life within the house, but is a preparation
— ^which is a much higher consideration — for
the right performance of duty outside, and for
the formation of habits of fiimness and self-
restraint, And the more these unfortunate
persons were educated in their duty towards
Heaven and Earth, and the more they were
tried on this plan, the more they would feel that
to dream of returning to society, or of becoming
virtuous wives, until they had earned a certain
gross number of marks reqmred of everyone
without the least exception, would be to prove
that they were not worthy of restoration to the
place they had lost It is a part of this system,
even to put at last, some temptation within their
reach, as enabling them to go out, putting them
in possession of some money, and the like, for
It IS clear that unless they are used to some
temptation and used to resist it, within the walls,

7f

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

their capacity of resisting it without, cannot be
considered as fairly tested

What they would be taught in the house,
would be grounded in religion, most unques-
tionably. It must be the basis of the whole
system But it is very essential in dealing with
this class of persons to have a system of training
established, which while it is steady and firm,
is cheerful and hopeful. Order, punctuality,
cleanliness, the whole routine of household
duties, as washing, mending, cooking — the
establishment itself would supply the means of
teaching practically, to every one But then I
would have it understood by all — I would have
It written up in every room — that they were not
going through a monotonous round of occupa-
tion and self-denial which began and ended
there, but which began, or was resumed, under
that roof, and would end, by God’s blessing, m
happy homes of their own.

I have said that I would put it m the power
of Governors of Prisons to recommend Inmates
I think this most important, because such
gentlemen as Mr Chesterton of the Middlesex
House of Correction, and Lieutenant Tracy of
Cold Bath Fields, Bridewell, (both of whom I
know very well) are well acquainted with the
good that IS in the bottom of the hearts of many
of these poor creatures, and with the whole

76

HIS SYMPATHETIC INSIGHT

history of their past lives, and frequently have
deplored to me the not having any such place
as the proposed establishment, to which to send
them when they are set free from Prison It is
necessary to observe that very many of these
unfortunate women are constantly in and out
of the Prisons, for no other fault or cnme than
their original one of having fallen from virtue.
Policemen can take them up, almost when they
choose, for being of that class, and being in the
streets, and the magistrates commit them to
Jail for short terms When they come out,
they can but return to their old occupation, and
so come in again It is well known that many
of them fee the Police to remain unmolested,
and being too poor to pay the fee, or dissipating
the money in some other way, are taken up
again, forthwith Very many of them are
good, excellent, steady characters when under
restraint — even without the advantage of system-
atic training, which they would have in this
Institution — and are tender nurses to the sick,
and are as kind and gentle as the best of
women.

There is no doubt that many of them would
go on well for some time, and would then be
seized-with a violent fit of the most extraordinary
passion, apparently quite motiveless, and insist
on going away There seems to be something

77

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

inherent in their course of life, which engenders
and awakens a sudden restlessness and reckless-
ness which may be long suppressed, but breaks
out like madness, and which all people who
have had opportunities of observation in Peni-
tentanes and elsewhere, must have contemplated
with astonishment and pity. I would have some
rule to the effect that no request to be allowed
to go away would be received for at least four
and twenty hours, and that in the interval the
person should be kindly reasoned with, if possible,
and implored to consider well what she was doing.
This sudden dashing down of all the building
up of months upon months, is, to my thinking,
so distinctly a Disease with the persons under
consideration that I would pay particular atten-
tion to It, and treat it with particular gentleness
and anxiety; and I %oou/d not make one, or tzco,
or thice, o; join, ot siv depaituies jiom the estab-
lishment a binding leason against the le-admission
oj that pel son being again penitent, but leave it
to the Managers to decide upon the ments of
the case gmng very great weight to general
good conduct within the house

I would begin with some comparatively small
number — say thirti' — and I would have it im-
pressed upon them, from day to day, that the
success of the experiment rested vith them,
and that on their conduct depended the rescue

7S

HIGH HOPES OF SUCCESS

and sah^tion, of hundreds and thousands of
women yet unborn. In what proportion this
experiment would be successful, it is ver)’- difficult
to predict, but I think that if the Establishment
were founded on a well-considered system, and
were well managed, one half of the Inmates
would be reclaimed from the very beginning,
and that after a time the proportion would be
much larger I believe this estimate to be
within very reasonable bounds

The main question that anses is, if the co-
operation of the Government — beginning at
that point when they are supposed to be re-
claimed — cannot be secured, how are they to be
pro\nded for, permanently? Supposing the Mark
system and the training to be very successful,
and gradually to acquire a great share of public
confidence and respect, I think it not too san-
guine to suppose that many good people would
be glad to take them into situations But the
power of beginning life anew, in a world per-
fectly untried by them, would be so important
in many cases, as an effectual detaching of them
from old associates, and from the chances of
recognition and challenge, that it is most desir-
able to be, some how or other, attained

I do not know whether you would be disposed
to entrust me with any share in the supervision
and direction of the Institution. But I need

79

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKEXS

not say that I should enter on such a task with
my whole heart and soul; and that in this respect,
as in all others, I have but one sincere and
zealous wish to assist you, by any humble means
in my power, in carrying out your benevolent
institution.

And at all events it would be necessary for
you to have, m the first instance, on paper, all
the results of previous expenence in this way,
as regards scheme, plan, management, and
expence These I think I could procure, and
render plain, as quietlv and satisfactorily as anv
one. And I would suggest to you, this course
of action.

That the School and Church proceeding —
this Design remain in abeyance for the present
That when I go to Pans (whither I shall remove,
please God, before Chnstmas) I examine every
Institution of this sort existing there, and gather
together all the information I possibly can I
believe more valuable knowledge is to be eot
there, on such a subject, than anywhere else,
and this, combined with the results ot our
English expenence, I would digest into the
plainest and clearest form; so that you could
see It, as if it were a Map And in the mean-
time vou would have these advantages
I That in the establishment of vour school
and Dispensarv, vou might find or make some

So

INQUIRIES INTO OTHER SCHEMES

Instruments tRat would be very important and
useful in the working out of this school

2 That there will then have been matured,
and probably tried, certain partial schemes
going a very little way on this same road, which
are now on foot in the City of London, and the
success or failure of which will be alike in-
structive.

3 That there is a very great probability of the
whole Transportation system being shortly
brought under the consideration of the Legis-
lature, and It is particularly worthy of con-
sideration that the various preliminary reports
on the subject, (which I have lately been reading)
recognise the question of sending out women to
the different settlements, as one of very great
importance

I have that deep sense, dear Miss Coutts, of
the value of your confidence in such a matter,
and of the pure, exalted, and generous motives
by which you are impelled, that I feel a most
earnest anxiety that such an effort as you con-
template in behalf of your Sex, should have every
advantage in the outset it can possibly receive,
and should, if undertaken at all, be undertaken
to the lasting honor of your name and Country
In this feeling, I make the suggestion I think
best calculated to promote that end Trust me,
if you agree in it, I will not lose sight of the

8i

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

subject, or grow cold to it, or fail to bestow upon
It my best exertions and reflection But, if
there be any other course you would prefer to
take, and you will tell me so, I shall be as devoted
to you in that as in this, & as much honored by
being asked to render you the least assistance.

In furtherance of his plan to put it in the
power of magistrates, governors of prisons, and
others, to recommend inmates to the Home,
which it had been decided should be called
Urania Cottage, and which was located at
Shepherd’s Bush, Dickens drew up the follow-
ing anonymous invitation, which was printed
in a four-page quarto form This remarkable
appeal, winch will certainly rank among the
most beautiful and pathetic things Dickens ever
wrote, had never been fully published until
during 1930 a reprint of it was issued for private
circulation to the members of the Boston Biblio-
phile Society, United States It has been
pointed out by Mr J W T Ley that the appeal
vas written the same )car Dickens began David
Coppe )field, and Mr Lej thinks that the char-
aettr of Martha was probabh suggested to the
author Ln his vork on behalf of the Idonic at
Sluphcrd’s Bush

Mts'' Burdett-Coutts’s I ondon residence was j,
btr itton Street, and the chief windov s oaerlool td
pKv''vh!K 'I he hou't vith it'- nun) hr tone
a' o^t 'tioir hi been demnlrhed

Pa

A REMARKABLE APPEAL

You •PTill see, on beginning to read this letter,
that It IS not addressed to you by name But I
address it to a woman — very young woman still
— ^who was bom to be happy, and has lived
miserably, who has no prospect before her but
sorrow, or behind her but a wasted youth, who,
if she has ever been a mother, has felt shame,
instead of pnde in her own unhappy child

You are such a person, or this letter would
not be put into your hands If you have ever
wished (I know you must have done so, some-
times) for a chance of rising out of your sad
life, and having fnends, a quiet home, means of
being useful to yourself and others, peace of
rmnd, self-respect, everything you have lost,
pray read it attentively, and reflect upon it
afterwards I am going to offer you, not the
chance but the certainty of all these blessings, if
you will exert yourself to deserve them And
do not think that I write to you as if I felt myself
very much above you, or wished to hurt your
feelings by reminding you of the situation in
which you are placed God forbid 1 I mean
nothing but kindness to you, and I write as if
you were my sister

Think, for a moment, what your present
situation is Think how impossible it is that it
ever can be better if you continue to live as you
have lived, and how certain it is that it must be

83

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

worse You know what the streets are, you
know how cruel the companions that you find
there, are; you know the vices practised there,
and to what wretched consequences they bnng
you, even while you are young Shunned by
decent people, marked out from all other lands
of women as you walk along, avoided by the
very children, hunted by the police, imprisoned,
and only set free to be impnsoned over and
over again — reading this very letter in a common
jail — ^}’^ou have, already, dismal expenence of the
truth But, to grow old in such a way of life,
and among such company — to escape an early
death from terrible disease, or your own mad-
dened hand, and arnve at old age m such a
course — ^will be an aggravation of every miser}’’
that you know now, which words cannot describe
Imagine for yourself the bed on which you, then
an object terrible to look at, 'will he down to die
Imagine all the long, long years of shame, want,
cnme, and ruin, that will nse before you And
by that dreadful day, and by the Judgment that
will follow It, and by the recollection that you
are certain to have then, when it is too late, of
the offer that is made to you, vhen it is NOT
too late, I implore you to think of it, and weigh
It well I

There is a lady in this town, who, from the
windows of her house, has seen such as }ou

84

A REMARKABLE APPEAL

going p-vst at night, and has felt her heart bleed
at the sight She is what is called a great lady,
but she has looked after you with compassion,
as being of her own sex and nature, and the
thought of such fallen Momcn has troubled her
in her bed She has resolved to open, at her
own expense, a place of refuge very near London,
for a small number of females, who without such
help, arc lost for c\cr, and to make it a HOME
for them In this Home they will be taught all
household work that would be useful to them
in a home of their own, and enable them to
make it comfortable and happy. In this Home,
which stands in a pleasant country lane, and
where each may have her little flower-garden,
if she pleases, they will be treated with the
greatest kindness, will lead an active, cheerful,
healthy life, will learn many things it is profit-
able and good to know, and, being entirely
removed from all who have any knowledge of
their past career, will begin life afresh, and be
able to win a good name and character And
because it is not the lady’s wish that these young
women should be shut out from the world, after
they have repented and have learned how to do
their duty there, and because it ts her wish and
object that they may be restored to society — a
comfort to themselves and it — they will be
supplied with every means, when some time

85 G

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

shall have elapsed, and their conduct shall have
fully proved their earnestness and reformation,
to go abroad, where, in a distant country, they
may become the faithful wives of honest men,
and live and die in peace

I have been told that those who see you daily
in this place, believe that there are virtuous in-
clinations lingering within you, and that you
may be reclaimed. I offer the Home I have
described in these few words, to you.

But, consider well before you accept it As
you are to pass from the gate of this Prison to
a perfectly new life, where all the means of happi-
ness from which you are now shut out, are
opened brightly to you, so remember, on the
other hand, that you must have the strength to
leave behind you, all old habits You must
resolve to set a watch upon yourself, and to be
firm in your control over yourself, and to restrain
yourself, to be patient, gentle, persevering, and
good-tempered Above all things, to be truth-
ful in every word you speak Do this, and all
the rest is easy But you must solemnly re-
member that if you enter this Home without
such constant resolutions, you will occupy,
unworthily and uselessly, the place of some
other unhappy girl, now wandering and lost;
and that her rum, no less than your own, will
be upon your head, before Almighty God, who

86

A REMARKABLE APPEAL

knows the secrets of our breasts, and Chnst,
who died upon the Cross, to save us.

In case there should be anything you wish to
know, or any question you would like to ask,
about this Home, you have only to say so, and
every information shall be given to you. Whether
you accept it or reject it, think of it. If you
awake in the silence and solitude of night, think
of It then. If any remembrance ever comes
into your mind of any time when you were
innocent and very different, think of it then.
If you should be softened by a moment’s recol-
lection of any tenderness or affection you have
ever felt, or that has ever been shown to you,
or of any kind word that has ever been spoken
to you, think of it then. If ever your poor
heart is moved to feel, truly, what you might
have been, and what you are, oh think of it
then, and consider what you may be yeti
Believe me that I am, indeed,

YOUR FRIEND.

Dickens’s visit to Switzerland did not interfere
with his active interest in Miss Burdett-Coutts’s
Home for fallen women The Duke referred to
in the letter of July 25th was Charles Gordon
Lennox, fifth Duke of Richmond Greville,
while admitting that he had "a certain measure
of understanding,” adds that he was “ prejudiced,

87

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

narrow-minded, illiterate, and ignorant, good-
looking, good-humoured, and unaffected, tedious,
prolix, unassuming, and a duke.”

ROSEMONT, LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND.

Twenty Fifth June 1846.

. . . This IS an odd little house, which I think
might be easily put into the great hall of our
old Genoese Palazzo — bodily It stands in the
midst of beautiful grounds, on the slope of the
Hill going down to the Lake — and the blue
waters thereof, and the whole range of moun-
tains, he in front of the windows. . I have
a study, something larger than a Plate Warmer,
opening into a Balcony and commanding a lovely
view I am contemplating terrific and tremen-
dous industry — am mightily resolved to begin
the book in numbers without delay — and have
already begun to look the little Christmas Volume
in Its small red face, though I hardly know it
by sight yet

ROSEMONT, LAUSANNE

Saturday Twenty Fifth July. 1846
. . Your two objections to my sketch of a
plan, I wish to offer half a dozen words upon.

As to Marriage I do not propose to put
88

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LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

act to say to such unfortunate creatures as you
purpose, by God’s blessing, to reclaim, “Test for
yourselves the reality of your repentance and
your power of resisting temptation, while you
are here^ and before you are in the world outside,
to fall before itl”

Now about Punch I have no influence what-
ever with that Potentate save such as may lie
in its being owned by my pnnters, and in my
having a personal knowledge of some of its
principal contributors You may guess how
powerful my influence is, when I tell you that
during my stage management of the amateur
Play, I spoke to the gentleman most prominent
among them, about that very Duke — more than
once — and said that I believed him to be an
excellent creature. That I had myself received
the most remarkable courtesy from him, and
that I knew that in his treatment of his Governess,
and of others about him, he was a bright example
to three fourths of the middle classes. The
gentleman to whom I spoke, laughed about it,
and said that there was no ill nature in their
jokes at his expence, and that they merely jested
at peculiarities of speech and manner that were
generally notorious After this conversation, or
about the same time, however, the Duke happened
to make a very unfortunate and apparently un-
feeling, speech, about the diseased potatoes

90

CFNEJIS OF VRS GAMP

Thi*;, Pu> ch resented nnd took in great dudgeon
Between ourscUcs, 1 really hirdl) know how'
thca could hi\c done otherwise, for it was cspcci-
alK ill-tmicd and ill-cho'^en But both on the
occasions to which I ha\c referred, and since,
I ha\c championed him strongly, and in the
same quarter And, as I have already said, )ou
mai guess from this, how great my influence is
I thorough!) agree with }ou in all }ou sa) about
him but I nc\cr wrote, or sta)cd the writing,
of, a word in Puj eh, and am not in the least
degree in his confidence or councils

Writing to Miss Burdett-Coutts on October
5th, 1846, Dickens said

. 1 do not avish Mrs Brown would be ill
again, but I wish she w'ould do something, which
would lead to her suggesting another character
to me, as serviceable as Mrs Gampl”

The prototype of Mrs Gamp was a nurse
cmplo) ed for a short time by Miss Burdett-Coutts
during the illness of her friend Mrs Brown at
I Stratton Street, Piccadilly The description
of her proceedings given by the two ladies fired
the imagination of Dickens, with the result that

91

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

one of the most extraordinary characters ever
created by a writer, with her attendant satellites,
Betsy Png and the mythical Mrs Harns, were
added to the treasures of English fiction. When
M.aitin Chuzzleixjtt appeared in book form, it
was dedicated to Miss Burdett-Coutts, “with
the true and earnest regard of the author.”

The deep interest which Dickens continued
to take in the Home is shown by the letters of
October and November, 1847.

DEVONSHIRE TERRACE,

Thursday Night, Twenty Eighth October 1847.
. . I am in a state of great anxiety to talk

to you about your “Home” (that is the name
I propose to give it) with which I have been
very busy for some time, and which will be
ready for the reception of its inmates, please
God, on Saturday fortmght

I have taken some pains to find out the dis-
positions and natures of any indiwdual we take;
and I think I know them pretty well, and may
be able to give the Matron some useful fore-
knowledge of them, and to exercise some personal
influence with them in case of need A most
extraordinary and mysterious study it is, but
interesting and touching in the extreme

I think It well to say to you that I have avoided
Macconochie’s ideas, as they hardly seemed (or

92

REIIGIOliS IVSTRUCTION

I fincicd so) to meet with your full approval,
and as the) were perhaps unsuitcd to so small
an establishment The design is simpl}’^, as you
and I agreed, to appeal to them by means of
aftcctiointc kindness and trustfulness — but firmly
too To improve them by education and ex-
ample — establish habits of the most rigid order,
punctuaht), and neatness — but to make as great
a vanct) in their dail) lives as their daily lives
vill admit of — and to render them an innocently
cheerful Family vhile they live together there
On the cheerfulness and kindness all our hopes
rest.

DEamNSHIRE TERRACE,

Wednesday^ Third November 1847.

I have great faith in the soundness of
your opinions in reference to the religious in-
struction, knowing you to be full of that en-
larged consideration for the special circumstances
under which it is to be administered m this case,
without which nothing hopeful or useful can be
done I trust that those enlightenments to which
you refer, arc to be found in the New Testament^
I am confident that harm is done to this class
of minds by the injudicious use of the Old —
and I am hardly less confident that I could shew
you how, in talking the subject over

The expediency of explaining to them that

93

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

the rules of the Establishment may alter, I
greatly doubt. For this reason — If we did so,
they would immediately conceive that we did
not know what we were about, and that we
were experimentalizing, which would desperately
shake their trust in us Such rules as we agree
upon in the outset will be known only to the
Superintendents and ourselves. They will not
be told to the Inmates. There will be a certain
daily routine which they will be called upon to
observe If we see fit to alter it, it will be
altered as a matter of course, I should say —
explaining to them beforehand the why and
wherefore But if the establishment worked
well, I would strongly counsel you not to try
experiments My belief is that nothing would
unsettle them so much, or render their staying
with us so doubtful — recollect, that we address
a peculiar and strangely-made character

There is this objection to the address of the
chaplain to each person individually. It would
decidedly involve the risk of their refusing to
come to us The extraordinary monotony of
the refuges and asylums now existing, and the
almost insupportable extent to which they carry
the words and forms of religion, is known to
no order of people so well as to these women,
and they have that exaggerated dread of it, and
that preconceived sense of their inability to bear

94

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LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

an infamous associate » and suffering her to go
out by herself would be to expose her to the
arts and temptations and recognitions of fifty
such — even supposing that her old habits and
her new freedom didn’t lead her among them.
It IS likely some of them would come in her
way, and her very decency might give them the
advantage, as by inducing her to go away with
them in the first instance, rather than be jeered
and mocked in the open streets. I propose that,
in the country, about the house, they shall con-
stantly go out in two or threes with Mrs Holds-
worth I would, as they advanced in their
training and shewed decided improvement, trust
them with keys, and with many little offices
within-doors that would test their self denial . .

One great point that I try to bear in mind
continually, and which I hope the clergjman
will steadily remember, is, that these unfortunate
creatures are to be Tempted to virtue They
cannot be dragged, driven, or frightened ^ou
originate this great work for the salvation of
the vomen who come into that Home, and I
hold It to be the sacred duty of ever}* one who
assists )ou m it, first to consider ho^v bt.st to gtt
them litre, ahd Lo-u he^s to Itcp iJ cm t) ert E\cty’
other consideration should fade before these tvo,
because c\cr\ other consideration follov. s upon
them, and is included in them, and is nnpracfic-

96

“TA^.:.'rSH£D riAGES OF god”

able vnthotit them It is for this vital reason
that a knovriedge of human nature as it shews
itself in these tarnished and battered images of
God — and a patient consideration for it — and a
determined putting of the question to one’s self,
not only whether this or that piece of instruction
or correction be in itself good and true, but
how it can be best adapted to the state in which
we 5nd these people, and the necessity we are
under of dealing gently with them, lest they
should run head long back on their own des-
truction — are the great, merciful, chnstian
thoughts for such an enterpnze, and form the
only spirit in which it can be successfully under-
taken. Do you not feel with me that this must
be kept steadily in view, and that a chaplain
imbued with this feeling in the outset, is the
only minister for the placed . .

I most entirely agree with you that it is nght
they should feel perfectly free before going
abroad If this system hold (and I have a faith
in Its doing so, simply because it is the system
of Christianity, and nothing more or less) I
believe they tvx// feel perfectly free, when that
times comes But we can eitamine into this,
and devise for it, leisurely. It has occurred to
me that it would be an admirable means of
promoting fnendly and affectionate feelmgs
among them, to give them to understand that

97

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

no one should ever be sent abroad alone. It
would be a beautiful thing, and would give us
a wonderful power over them, if they would
form strong attachments among themselves To
say nothing of the encouragement and support
they would be to one another in a foreign
country.

My dear Miss Courts, you will attribute my
earnestness to the true cause — the unspeakable
interest I have in a design fraught with such
great consequences, and the knowledge I have
(if I have any knowledge at all) of these sad
aspects of humanity, and their workings — when
I again refer to that indispensable necessity of
remembering the formed character that is to be
addressed, and of considenng everything that
IS addressed to it, not with reference to itself
alone, but in connexion with its adaptability to
the nature, sufferings, and whole experience of
the objects of your benevolence In proportion
as the details of any one of these young lives
would be strange and difficult to a good man
who had kept away from such knowledge, so
the best man in the world could never make
his way to the truth of these people, unless he
were content to win it very slowly, and with the
nicest perception always present to him, of the
results engendered in them by what they have
gone through Wrongly addressed, they are

98

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LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

Upsetting the carriage! A lady and gentleman
living near, who were driving by in their carnage,
got Mrs Dickens out, and sent for some wine
and so forth, and took her home to their house,
where the man was carried too, and where (to
my unspeakable astonishment) I was borne off
to see them, when I landed from the boat. She
is none the worse, I hope, for the fright, but
the man is greatly cut and bruised from head
to heel, and the surgeon is afraid he may be
lamed, from the injury done to some leading
sinews of his legs I am going to take the
pony to the scene of the disaster this morning,
where I shall try to cure her of such freaks for
the future.

DEVONSHIRE TERRACE

Fv St November 1848. Wednesday aftemoon

I want to ask your kind assistance in getting
a highly esteemed and valued old servant of
mine, who went abroad with us — the Brave
courier of my litde Italian book — into St George’s
Hospital

His case, the surgeon says, is disinctly admis-
sible there It would be also admissible at the
Brompton Hospital for diseases of the chest
That institution is under an old obligation to
me, and they are very ready and willing to take
him in , but the bed he is to occupy (if he should

100

goldsmith’s grand-nephew

hvc to go there) is not likely to be vacant for
the next two or three months.

I enclose the medical description of his case,
on which I have it much at heart to get him
into St George’s forthwith I don't know how
to set about it. It has occurred to me that
perhaps you may have some direct power of
nominating him as a patient, and that if you
have not, Mr. Brown ^ (on whose good-feeling
I know I may rely) will help me with his advice.

Pray forgive me troubling you I have the
deepest interest in the matter. He is a most
faithful, affectionate, and devoted man He is
dreadfully changed from a fine handsome fellow,
in a very short time His doctor urgently
recommends his being got into a hospital where
he will never be left alone (he is in a poor little
lodging now) and I must accomplish it if it
can be done

The grandson of Henry Goldsmith (Oliver
Goldsmith’s brother) referred to in the next
letter was Lieutenant Charles Goldsmith (i 795 ”
1854), who later held the rank of Commander
in the Navy His elder brother Hugh Colvill
Goldsmith (1789-1841) was also a Lieutenant
in the Royal Navy, and died at sea in the West
Indies.

1 Dr William Brown

lOI H

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKERS

DE\^OXSHIRE TERRACE,

Twenty NttJh 'March 1849.

As I believe you vrill give me credit for being
very slow to intrude upon your generosit}', I will
say nothing more in defence of this application

There has come to my knowledge a case,
in which if you should feel disposed to render
any assistance, I can answer for its being well
bestowed. The object is, to help the family
of the grandson of that Henry Goldsmith to
whom Oliver dedicated the Tiavelhi\ and who
is supposed to have been the original of some
parts of Mr. Primrose’s character in the Vicat
of Wakefield — a book of which I think it is not
too much to say that it has perhaps done more
good in the world, and instructed more kinds
of people in virtue, than any other fiction ever
written

This grandson has six sons and a daughter.
On an income never exceeding two hundred a
year, and for a great part of his life never ex-
ceeding a hundred and sixty, he has contrived
to bring them up well (those that are grown)
and to get two of them abroad as sailors, and
another into the Naval School He is a lieu-
tenant in the Na%y himself, and now inxommand
of a Revenue Crmser, but the expenses of his
fanruly, and in particular the having borrowed
for the outfit of one of his sons, have m-
102

INTEREST IN EDUCATION

volved him in temporary distress; and unless he
can clear himself, it is probable that he will be
seriously damaged at the Admiralty

I have a letter by me from his wife, which
IS very plainly and pathetically written, and
which convinces me that lasting good may be
done to a very deserving man by a little money
A private subscription among some literary men
IS the only thing that occurs to me, as a way
of raising the whole sum borrowed (the least
amount, I take it, that would do him real service)
and if you feel yourself justified in aiding it,
I shall be very heartily sensible of your assistance

Dickens was also warmly interested in the many
efforts made by Miss Burdett-Coutts for the
advancement of education

BROADSTAIRS

Friday Evening) Sixth September 1850
It would be a great thing for all of us,
if more who are powerfully concerned with
Education, thought as you do, of the imaginative
faculty Precisely what you say in your note,
IS always in my mind, in that connexion The
three best houses for children’s books, are Arthur
Hall, Paternoster Row — Grant and Griffiths,

103

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

Saint Paul’s Churchyard — ^Darton and Co. Hol-
born Hill Tegg of Cheapside, also published
a charming collection of stories, called The
Child’s Fairy Library — in which I had great
delight on the voyage to America.

BROADSTAIRS

Wednesday Twenty Third October. 1850.

I have just finished Coppeijield and don’t know
whether to laugh or cry ... I have an idea
of wandering somewhere for a day or two — to
Rochester, I think, where I was a small boy —
to get all this fortnight’s work out of my head,
but I shall be at home soon.

The comedy written by Lord Lytton was Not
So Bad As We Seem It was played for the
first time at Devonshire House, Laindon, on the
1 6th of May, 1851, before Queen Victona,
Prince Albert, and a large audience This and
other performances were in aid of “The Guild
of Literature and Art,” an object on behalf of
which Dickens and Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton
(afterwards Lord Lytton) devoted many efforts
for several years Their aim was to raise an
endowment, the funds of which “should not be
mere charity, but should combine something of
both pension-list and college-lectureship, without
the drawbacks of either ” (Forster, Book VI,

104

CUllD or IITERATURE AVD ART

Clnp V.) In 1 speech at the time Dickens
"I ln\c just embarked in a design to soothe
the rueged \\i> of )oung labourers both in litera-
ture and the fine arts, and to soften, but by no
dee nosjinr) means, the declining )cars of meri-
torious age If It prosper, as I hope it will, and
I know It ought, there will one day in England
be an honour where there is now a reproach,
and a future race of men of letters will gratefully
remember that it originated in the sympathies,
and was made practicable by the generosity, of
Sir Edward Bulwer Eytton " liy performances
of L) tton's corned) , of Wilkie Collins' The Ft ozcii
Dtcp, of a farce b) Dickens, public dinners and
other means, a very considerable sum was raised
— how much cannot be ascertained A freehold
site of some three acres at the entrance to Steven-
age was given by L)tton, and here w'as built in
1865, under the supervision of Alfred Darbyshirc,
acting as honorary architect, a large residence
which was divided into three separate houses,
each W'lth its owm hail door and staircase. This
was an asylum for members of ‘‘The Guild of
Literature and Art ” From the first the scheme
appears to have been a failure The houses often
remained empty, and with the death of the last
trustee the property became vested in the Council
of the Royal Literary Fund, who on June 27th,

1 901, sold the building and the ground by auction.
The property was purchased as a private residence
by Mrs Stanford, by whom it is still occupied,
though the three houses have now been converted
into two, and the building, which was originally

105

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

known as The Guild, has been renamed Wood-
lands and Oakfield.

KNUTSFORD LODGE, GREAT WALVERN

Twentieth March 1851. Thursday
. . I send you enclosed, the first proof of
the design which Bulwer and I have projected,
apd for which he has written the Comedy. It
is still susceptible of many little improvements
and explanations which we are gradually getting
into It The Duke of Devonshire has taken it
up (on my shewing it to him) in a most generous
and noble manner, and we are going to play
the Comedy for the first time, at his House,
in the last week m April On which occasion
the Queen is to be invited, and I don’t know
how much money made

The maze of bewilderment into which I have
got myself with carpenters, painters, tailors,
machinists, and others, in consequence — to say
nothing of two nights every week when the
whole company are drilled for five hours, the
undersigned presiding — or of this trifling addition
to my usual occupations — is of the most en-
tangled descnption, but, if I could help to set
right what is wrong here and what I see every
day to be so unhappily wrong, I should be
munificently recompensed

106

onjECTtov TO ms acting

OrrAT MALMRN
, T'Ltnj T} trA 'March 1851
. I hn\c pcrcci\cd t dim shndow of your
nv,stcnous objection to m) acting, before now
Yet 1 hope ^ou 'imH go to this Phy, consoling
lour mind ixith the belief that vie have on former
occT'tons done a great deal of good bj it, and
tint there is no one chc whom these men would
alio A to hold them together, or to whose direction
the) would good-humourcdlj and with perfect
confidence vneld themselves It was in the cir-

4

cumstance of Bulwcr's being so much struck
and surprised by this union when we played at
his house a few months ago, that this scheme
originated For he said, "this is a great power
that has grown up about you, out of a w'lntcr-
night's amusement, and do let us try to use it
for the lasting service of our order "

You will not find it like any other amateur
Plays, I think You will be impressed by the
general intelligence and good sense And you
wall find a certain neatness in it which I should
compare with the French stage, if you were not
so profoundly English!

As to the mournful spectacle of your friend
upon the boards, I can only ask you to do your
best to forget him If I thought that deeply-
anchored objection were capable of being argued
down, I should press you, darkly to reveal it.

107

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

But I have no such belief, for I think you are
in your way as obstinate as — Mrs. Brown — I
can’t say more

The ironic references in the next extract refer
to the second Earl Granville (1815—91), and to
his wife Lord Granville, who took a prominent
part in the promotion of the Great Exhibition
of 1851, was one of the deputation of commis-
sioners who visited France in August of that
year on the invitation of the municipality of Pans
to celebrate the success of the Exhibition “He
spoke French like a Parisian, with a slight court
accent, recalling the ancien iigime^ and his personal
influence did much to promote the entente
cordiale ” There was probably no one more
unlikely to enter the French Chamber of Peers
as the first representative of the rights of women
than Lady Granville (d i860), who was Maria
Louisa, only child and heiress of Emeric Joseph,
Due dc Dalberg, widow of Sir Ferdinand Acton,
of Aldcnham, Shropshire, and mother of the
first Lord Acton, the historian The exchange
of effusive sentiments at Pans appears to have
caused Dickens no little amusement.

DROADSTMRS, KFNT

SevenUenth August 1851
I begin to be pondering afar off, a new
hook ^holcnt rcstic'isncss, and ■vague ideas of

108

INDUSTRIAL DWELLINGS

going I don’t know where, I don’t know why,
are the present symptoms of the disorder

I understand Lord Granville is to be made
the next President of the French Republic
Have you heard it'* also that Lady Granville
is to go into the French Chamber of Peers, as
the first representative of the Rights of Women
— and that the Lord Mayor wants to be natur-
alized as a French subject This looks bad for
England.

Moved by Dickens’s repeated descnptions of
the ternble poverty and overcrowding in parts
of the East End of London, Miss Burdett-
Coutts visited with Dickens one of the most
squalid districts, known as Nova Scotia Gardens,
a name in which there lurked a fine irony It
was here that she decided to erect one of the
first great blocks of industrial dwellings put up
in London, with the result that Columbia Square,
affbrdingaccommodation for two hundred families,
or about a thousand persons, was opened in 1862
Needless to say, the scheme enlisted Dickens’s
warmest support

TAVISTOCK HOUSE

Sunday Eighteenth Aprtl 1852
It IS a very good thing to try several
descriptions of houses, but I have no doubt

109

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

myself (after long consideration of the subject)
that the large houses are best. You never can,
for the same money, offer anything like the
same advantages in small houses It is not
desirable to encourage any small carpenter or
bmlder who has a few poimds to invest, to run
up small dwelling houses If they had been
discouraged long ago, London would be an
immeasurably healthier place than it can be
made in scores of years to come If you go
into any common outskirts of the town now
and see the advancing army of bnck and mortar
laying waste the country fields and shutting out
the air, you cannot fail to be struck by the
consideration that if large buildings had been
erected for the working people, instead of the
absurd and expensive separate walnut shells in
which they hve, London would have been about
a third of its present size, and eveiy family would
have had a country walk miles nearer to their
own door Besides this, men would have been
nearer to their work — ^would not have had to
dine at pubhc houses — ^there would have been
thicker walls of separation and better means of
separation than you can ever give (except at a
preposterous cost) in small tenements — and they
would have had gas, water, drainage, and a
vanety of other humanizing things which you
can^t give them so well in little houses Further,

I lO

LARGE HOUSES VERSUS SMALL

in little houses, you must keep them near the
ground, and you cannot by any possibility afford
such sound and wholesome foundations (remedy-
ing this objection) in little houses as in large
ones The example of large houses appears to
me, in all respects, (always supposing their
locality to be a great place like London) far
better than any example you can set by small
houses, and the compensation you give for any
overgrown shadow they may cast upon a street
at certain hours of the day is out of all proportion
to that drawback

I know everybody at Manchester, and in
most of those places But I think the people
for the suggestion-paper are people connected
with Railways passing through remote Yorkshire
Moors, where they have had to frame schools
and churches, and establish an orderly system of
society out of the strangest disorder — as in one
case in Yorkshire, now, where a Tunnel has
been making for some years. Also large iron-
masters — of whom there are some notable cases
— ^who have proceeded on the self-supporting
principle, and have done wonders with their
workpeople Also other manufacturers in iso-
lated places who have awakened to find them-
selves in the midst of a mass of workpeople
going headlong to destruction, and have stopped
the current, and quite turned it by establishing

III

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

decent houses, paying schools, savings banks,
little libraries, etc Several of these instances
come into my mind as I write this, and I have
no doubt we could get the results of such
expenence by merely asking for them.

The Lady Lovelace who sent for Dickens
when she was dying was Augusta Ada Noel-
Byron, Lord Byron’s only child, by his disastrous
marriage with Miss Milbanke

“Ada* Sole daughter of my house and heart.”
Chtlde Ha) old's Pilgrwiage^ Canto III

The comedy of which Miss Burdett-Coutts
did not approve was Lytton’s Not So Bad As IV ?
Seon (mentioned in the letter of March 20, 1 851),
and Dickens’s farce was Mr. Nightingale s Viaiy^
in which Dickens played the part of the old
lighthouse-keeper, and was compared by Carlyle
‘‘to the famous figure in Nicholas Poussin s
Bacchanalian Dance” in the picture in the National
Gallery

DERBY

Wednesday Twenty Fifth August 1852
. The night before I left town (last Saturday)
I had a note from Lord Lovelace to tell me that
Lady Lovelace was dpng, and that the death of

1 12

DEATH OF Byron’s daughter

the child in Dombey had been so much in her
thoughts and had soothed her so, that she wished
to see me once more if I could be found. I went,
and sat with her alone for some time. It was
very solemn and sad, but her fortitude was quite
surprising, and her conviction that all the agony
she has suffered (which has been very great) had
some good design in the goodness of God, im-
pressed me very much. She wished to live till
next Saturday, to see one of her boys who is
absent. I fear she may not have that natural hope
realized.

The comedy you don’t approve of, goes very
well now I have reduced it into three acts I
wish you could see my farce It is very droll and
pleasant, and puts all the people into such good
humour that they cannot express it sufficiently

The references to the death and funeral of the
Duke of Wellington explain themselves

The paragraph about Westminster can onlyrefer
to the great religious and educational work Miss
Burdett-Coutts had undertaken in that part of
the ancient City adjoining Vincent Square St
Stephen’s Church had been consecrated June
24th, 1850, when the altar-cloth was given by
the Duke of Wellington, who also presented to
the church a sixteenth-century silk curtain taken
from the tent of Tippoo Sahib at the storming of
Seringapatam The schools for boys, girls and

113

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

infants adjoined St. Stephen’s Church, and con-
tained a large picture by Marshall Claxton
(1813-81), of Chnst blessing little children.

DOVER,

Tuesday Night Fourteenth Septemher 1852
I have just heard of what you will have been
long prepared for, but what I fear will cause you,
notwithstanding, some natural distress. I was
walking to Walmer this afternoon, and little
thought that the great old man was dying or dead
He had been a steady friend to an uncle of Mrs
Dickens who was Colonel of Engineers here, and
his son left word a little while ago, while we verc
at dinner, that the Duke was dead

I believe that what you write about Westminster
is the whole truth and force of that subject, and
that there is no better way of going good, or of
preparing the great mass of mankind to think of
the great doctrines of Our Saviour If I vcrc
to tr}>‘ to tell you what I foresee from your lending
your aid to what is so particularly and plainly
Christian with no fear of mistake, your modest
vay of looking at what )ou do would scarcely
bclic\c me But jou wall live to sec what comes
of It, and that wall be — here — jour great revard
I felt, when I came back, that I had so much
to do with Bleak Hou^c that it was not safe for me
to contemplate doing nothing ne't Wednesdaj

1 14

The 0 V^^^^% Jc o'i ^vuc\cs in ^ tbc
A\i\C \ coC'-n^^ ^ f\ b> nn n ..TtadinS

'^?'1 Sh '=''"’lac fo'nl" b«',

'" 'd'cV'='’"''°!tcd'''T‘"'T/'£l'""“

A otbc^ nc^'■^V Ivnog^P';^^dcd

the fnncinb ^ cd aouscho^^

v.onin

rj;];urs(i^y> p^^hc ^cc , pubc®^ to scni^'
the 'e''°'° funere' of *' >» st

\ thin^ ‘ ^ctinns — j c^am? pernic^^®
batbn^o^'^, V ‘ d sense ^,j,ntng

to V hv tbc Si < ^ rciinO’ 3 ,„consis'^^’^
bibty J I the V>oP ‘ dream n ^^penses,

cottnP^'to^ nnd tn^^^r^ncmo-

aiwaben f bottot^ ^^^ty m ^ject and

monstt°f^Van^^"" °I to tn^^" ^'!rcUon

strong

■Dea^^ attended ^ itian s

he e““;:?thc.f">'‘"°“,5

tpemoty ^

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

But to say anything about it now, or to hope
to leaven with any gram of sense such a mass of
wrong-doing, would be utterly useless After-
wards, I shall try to present the sense of the case
m Household Words. At present, I think I might
as well whistle to the sea.

TAVISTOCK HOUSE Thil d November 1852
. . . I am quite vexed about the State Funeral.
I think It is altogether wrong as regards the
memory of the Duke, and at least equally wrong
in the Court estimate it implies of the People
The nonsense of the Heralds’ College and Lord
Chamberlain absurdities, keep his own soldiers
away, the only real links of sympathy the public
could have found in it are carefully filed off; and
a vulgar holiday, with a good deal of business for
the thieves and the public houses, will be the chief
result.

TAVISTOCK HOUSE,

Friday Nineteenth November, 1852
. In the matter of the Household Narrative,
I think, on looking back to the previous numbers,
that there is nothing to be done, as to the Duke’s
memory — unless there be anything that you would
like to add about his character If you will send

1 16

DISLIKE or STATE FUNERALS

me nin thing, of course I will take care to append
It m the right place I came home yesterday in
lime to write an article for the next No of House-
hold JTords — which I had kept open for the
purpose, and which is now at press, of necessity, —
objecting to the V, hole State Funeral, and shewing
wh). 1 wall send you a proof — tomorrow night,
I hope — thinking )ou may like to read it The
mihtar)’ part of the show, was very fine. If it
had been an ordinary Funeral of a great com-
mander, It might have been impressive I sup-
pose for forms of ugliness, horrible combinations
of color, hideous motion, and general failure,
there never was such a work achieved as the Car

It docs not jmnear possible to identify the placid
doctor whom Dickens felt inclined to take by the
throat, or the Mrs Braync whose work would not
bear much exposure to light, or the photograph
of Dickens which resulted from the interview
between himself and the sun

TAVISTOCK HOUSE,

Fnday Twenty Third October 1852
Your description of the placid Doctor
makes me laugh in a most ridiculous manner
whenever I think of it I always feel inclined
to take him by the throat and squeeze the words

1 17 I

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

he won't say and won't be helped to (for if you
suggest them he positively refuses to take them
but goes floundering on in the profoundest con-
tentment), out of him by force. He is an excel-
lent creature, however, and knows what he is
about far better than he seems to — ^which is not
saying much for him, but I mean a great deal
more

We are greatly relieved, and ver}’’ glad, to hear
that Mrs Brown continues to mend I have
effected and am effecting, several small improve-
ments in the internal arrangements here, which
I shall hope to hear both your and her commenda-
tion of by the glow of a winter fire I bought
at Boulogne, a little figure for my study chimney-
piece which was the sign of a tobacconist's shop^ and
which, for the most grotesque absurdity, I con-
sider unrivalled

TAVISTOCK HOUSE,

Thiitieth October iS^2

... I went out yesterday to Fulham, and
occasioned the most frightful consternation in
Auckland Cottage by unexpectedly appearing m
the rain A large young family fled from the
back parlor, on a visitor being announced, and
took refuge (with their mother) at the top of the
stairs — ^where they stood, as I saw from the

ii8

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

tions to them about their experience of smcide.
Their answers were rather curious, almost all the
attempts are by women — a man, quite a rarity.

The Mr Stone who was described as hovering
with satisfaction round the photograph of Dickens,
was Frank Stone, A R A , a popular English
painter in both water-colours and oils (1800-59).
He was a friend of Dickens, and one of the four
artists (Augustus Egg, John Leech, George
Cruikshank), associated with amateur theatrical
performances given for charitable purposes by
Dickens in Manchester and Liverpool in 1847
As the net receipts fell short by ,^100 of the sum
It was desired to raise, Dickens proposed to in-
crease the benefit fund by the publication of a
little jeu d' esp it^ in the form of a history of the
trip, with illustrations by the four artists, written
by Mrs. Gamp (as an eye-witness), inscribed to
Mrs Hams, and edited by Charles Dickens It
was to be a new “Piljiam’s Projiss ” The project,
alas! was not realized, as the artists did not
respond, but there is a delightfully amusing frag-
ment of the letterpress by Dickens, given in the
sixth book of Forster’s Ltje^ including the
following friendly caricature of Stone and Egg
“There,” he says, alluding to a fine-looking,
portly gentleman, with a face like an amiable full
moon, and a short, mild gentleman, vith a
pleasant smile, “is tvo more of our artists, Mrs
G , well beknoved at the Rojal Academy, as sure

120

INTERVIEW WITH THE SUN

as stones is stones and eggs is eggs ” Mr. Frank
Stone was the father or Marcus Stone, R A.

Christmas Bay 1852.

I cannot resist the temptation I feel to
send you the result of the interview between
myself and the sun. I am so anxious that you
should like it if you can It came home last
night, and Mr Stone has been prowling about
It and hovering round it this morning with such
intense satisfaction, that I suppose it must have
something good in it I don’t pretend to such
a knowledge of my own face, as I claim to have
of other people’s faces.

BOULOGNE

Sunday, Tenth July, 1853
. I look forward to shewing you, here, the
most ndiculous suite of children’s rooms ever
imagined — an absurdity of which I am qmte
proud to be the temporary owner — and a very
good one in practice too

CHATEAU DES MOULINEAUX, BOULOGNE.

Eighteenth July 1853, Monday
It has been blowing great guns here —
raining great water-spouts — hailing sugar loaves,
and going all up and down the glass in four and

121

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

twenty hours. We are at present expecting
snow.

Mrs Warner (1804-54) was Mary Amelia
Huddart, the daughter of a Dublin chemist.
After a distinguished career on the stage, she was
stricken with cancer, and became a hopeless in-
valid She had married Robert William Warner,
the landlord of the Wrekm Tavern, Broad Court,
Bow Street, a place of resort for actors and
literary men. In 1853, partly through the fault
of her husbai;d, she went through the insolvency
court A fund, to which Queen Victoria and
Miss Burdett-Coutts contributed, was raised, and
a benefit performance at Sadlers’ Wells brought
her £150

BOULOGNE, CHATEAU DES MOULINEAUX

Wednesday^ Twentieth July^ 1853
I dare say you can easily call to mind Mrs
Warner the actress. Will you read the enclosed
portion of a note I received (m a parcel from
London) from Mr Macready, only this morning
It is just within the bounds of possibility that
you may have some power of nomination some-
where, that might be well bestowed on such a
case. But I need not say (of all people) that I
know what a slender chance there is of such a
thing.

122

LETTER FROM MACREADY

In acknowledging the sum sent to him for Mrs.
Warner’s benefit, Macready, writing to Miss
Burdett-Coutts from Sherborne, on July 23rd,
1853, said

You will I trust, dear Madam, excuse me for
this departure from the ceremonious terms, in
which I ought perhaps to acknowledge the letter,
I have just received from you but, under the
feelings it has excited m me, I really cannot
restrict myself to that cold formality, which is
ordmanly considered the language of respect. I
would wish you to believe, how deeply I have
been affected by your goodness, and how truly
I honor that genuine benevolence, so ready in
you to anticipate affliction’s prayer But in your
own consciousness you have your own recom-
pence, and that, which is due to the most faithful
stewardship of the Almighty’s earthly blessings
must be yours

I shall by this same post convey to Mrs Warner
the consolation of your letter, and I can well
judge, what must be her emotions of gratitude
to you, and also to our excellent fnend, Mr
Charles Dickens for his kind mediation m her
favor

There are three or four answers, for which I
am waiting, before I make up the arrangements
for the completion of the girl’s education, but in

123

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

the meantime she will return to school, and in
due course, I will, with your permission, forward
you the account of what has been, and is proposed
to be, done.

I shall probably hear either from yourself, or
through Mr Dickens, of your final decision in
regard to the boy in the meantime, regretting
that I can but so imperfectly express the senti-
ments of grateful respect, with which I am pene-
trated by your goodness, I remain, dear Madam,

Tour’s most faithfully,

W C. MACREADY.

The book which Dickens had just finished was
Bleak House

BOULOGNE,

Saturday^ Twenty SeveJith August 1853
I have just finished my book (very prettily
indeed, I hope) and am in the first drowsy lassitude
of having done so I should be lying in the
sunshine by the hour together, if there were such
a thing In its absence I prowl about in the
wind and ram Last night was the most tre-
mendous I ever heard for a storm of both I
fear there will be sad shipwrecks in the news-
papers a few days hence

. . The Birmingham people are arranging

those readings I promised to give them They

124

LONDON OUT OF THE SEASON

cvpcct to get five hundred pounds for their new
Institution (n splendid idea of a Mechanics’
Athcnaium) therefrom I am going to read there
three nights in the Christmas week — to two
thousand working people only, on the Friday —
the Chnstmtjs Caiol You heard the beginning
of BleuL House. I wish (and did avish very
hcartil}) aou had been here the night before last,
to hear the end

OFFICE OF HOUSEHOLD WORDS,

1 6 WrLLIVGTOV STREET NORTH

Friday Eighth September 1853
Your account of Vichy gave me a chill from
which I have not yet quite recovered. A dim
oppressive sense of wandy discomfort has been
upon me ever since, and I feel inclined to try to
warm myself at a bright hard hearted little fire-
place which produces nothing but smoke

I passed your house yesterday, and it looked
tremendously dull — if that is any comfort to you
Painters were at work in Mr Brown’s,^ and a
man on a tall thin pair of steps much spotted
with whitewash was at work in the middle window
of the dining room, according to the usual manner
of that class of operative — scraping a little, looking

^ Dr and Mrs Brown (Miss Meredith) lived ncit door to
the Baroness at 80 Piccadill/

125

LriTiRS OF CH.-iRLFS DICKENS

about him a great deal, and singing the dreanest
sorg I ever heard. I suppose that part of London
never vras so empty. In search of tvo or three
little things I vranted for my trip, I vrent to one
of the tailors vrho lives in Piccadilly He
couldn’t bear the silence and had gone to Brighton.
I vent to another of my tailors vho lives in
CliSord Street, Bond Street He had giien up
business altogether, for the time, and vas plapng
the piano upstairs, surrounded by his family ana
mignonette boxes I then vent to my hosier’s
in Xev Bond Street and found the establishment
reduced to tvo of the least illustnous of the
“young men,” vho vere playing at draughts in
the back counting house This is rc-’llv the
cxpenence of a solitar}' traieiler m those regions
at elc\en o’clock yesterday forenoon

MLUv DES ’'OLLIN'E vCX, EOLLOGNE

Etght.tnl Scj^'cv hr, 1853
. This price vas decorated, three vccks '’go,
fo- the Lmreror. All the triurmhal arches
(•^nde of green boughs) ha\c f’dcu, and loo'-.
cxactlv '■s if they v cre mace of tc-’ Ic’no^

Tnc lette- vh'cn folio*’ < suc'uc^ts ho * ■’Ctr e 1
D.c’ c^s *>"■*$ !'■- ’ne 'r tl.c p^’,rir th-or c . ori

I 26

BEGGIKG-LETTER IMPOSTOR

of Miss Burdett-Coutts dunng the years before
she secured the services of Mr Wills as her
private secretary

I JUNCTION PARADE, BRIGHTON.

Friday Fourth October 1853.
ist Case — Mr. Burgess is a common begging-
letter writer — Fourpost bedstead in his room —
admirable steak on the fire — handsome wife —
two extraordinarily jovial children — shelves, full
of glasses, crockery ware, children’s toys, &c &c
— cupboard full of provender — coals in stock —
everything particularly cheerful and cosey It
was such a clear case (he was not at home himself,
I think must have stepped out to fetch the beer)
that I caused enquiry to be made of the Mendicity
Society They know him well, and will send me
down a report of his life and career tomorrow
2nd Case — The lady at Holloway was with her
sick husband Everything scrupulously clean —
except the husband They were in a back parlor,
very briefly furnished She has two additional
pupils in her little school, and one other private
pupil They have got on up to the present time,
but are again so pressed by those small creditors
that certain friends of hers have determined in
their small way to assist her husband with the
few pounds necessary to pay the expenses of

127

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

taking the benefit of the Insolvent Act They
deplored this with much apparent sincerity, saying
that all the creditors, except the baker, were very
little tradesmen who would suffer by the loss
They estimate their debts at £^o. They were
very hopeful and quiet — complained of nothing —
asked for nothing — and said that on the whole
their creditors had been very patient and con-
siderate.

3rd case, I have written a note of enquiry to Mr*
Greenhow at Newcastle, and shall probably receive
his answer tomorrow.

Augustus Leopold Egg (1816-63) was a well-
known genre painter of the time. The other
member of the Italian Triumvirate was Wilkie
Collins

Miss Burdett-Coutts was evidently staying in
Pans, where “Dickens & Co.” were to dine with
her on their way to Strassburg

“O” was a playful designation for Mrs Brown,
Miss Burdett-Coutts’s friend and former com-
panion.

BOULOGNE,

Saturday Eighth October. i85’3.

. As you kindly contemplate the invasion
of your table by the whole Italian Triumvirate,
and as I know you will find Mr. Egg very modest

128

CHAUNCEY HARE TOWNSHEND

and agreeable, I think I ought to give “Co” the
great pleasure you so considerately offer that part
of the Firm, as well as “Self” But as we shall
not be presentable by your dinner hour on Mon-
day, and as we shall not go on to Strassburg
until Wednesday morning, I would propose, if
you approve, that we dine with you on Tuesday
. . I have a game to shew you, which will
interest you if you never saw it. We have been
playing it here of an evening, with the greatest
success I think it will put our friend O (if you
will say as much to her from me) on the alert.

The gentleman with whom the Italian Tnum-
virate spent two days was the Reverend Chauncey
Hare Townshend (1798-1868), but it has not
been possible to identify the Prince In his
youth Mr Townshend had pretensions to being
a poet, and in 1817, while at Cambridge, won
the Chancellor’s Medal for a poem entitled
Jerusalevi He published a volume of poems in
1821, and was the author of other works. An
inimitable descnption of him in his old age is
given in Dickens's letter of August 13th, 1856
By his will Mr Townshend left his pictures,
scientific collections and a magnificent collection
of gems, to the National, now the Victoria and
Albert Museum, and a large sum of money to
Miss Burdett-Coutts for the furtherance of
elementary education Out of this fund was

129

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

built the Chauncey Hare Townshend Schools,
opened in Rochester Street, Westminster, in
1876. He was one of the dearest friends of
Dickens for many years, and when Great Ex-
pectations^ which had appeared as a serial in All
the Tear Rounds was issued m book form in 1861,
It was inscribed “To Chauncey Hare Town-
shend ” On hearing of his death Dickens wrote
“I truly loved him . I never, never, never
was better loved by man than I was by him —
Good, affectionate, gentle nature ” Townshend
in his will charged Dickens “to publish without
alteration his religious opinions, which he sin-
cerely believed would tend to the happiness of
mankind.” In a letter dated January 4th, 1869,
Dickens explains that to publish without alteration
was absolutely impossible, because the opinions
were distributed in the strangest fragments
through the strangest note-books, pocket-books,
slips of paper, and what not Notwithstanding
these difficulties, Dickens published Mr, Town-
shend’s religious opinions with an explanatory
introduction in 1869 It has not been possible
to ascertain that they have been conducive to
the happiness of mankind.

HOTEL DE LA VILLA, MILAN.

Tuesday Twenty Fifth October 1853
When I came to reflect at leisure on what
the Prince had said at dinner, I felt convinced
that he must be under some complicated (and

130

JOURNFi' TO MILAN

I liad almost added here, peculiarly Parisian)
mistake Firstl), because travellers crossing the
Simplon enter Ital) by the Sardinian state, and
sccondl) because travellers crossing the St
Gothard not only come direct from the obnoxious
Swiss Canton — which in the other case they do
not — but enter Italy at once by an Austrian portal.
When I got to Lausanne I made enquiries whether
Austria interposed any difficulties in the w^ay of
English travellers entering Italy by the Simplon
Kobod} knew', or had ever heard of any such
thing The Conner of the Mail, who had just
come across, utterly rejected the idea, saying
that they took passengers, and passed and met
travelling carnages, every day Thus confirmed,

I resolved to come by the Simplon — and did
We crossed it on Sunday, when there was not
a cloud in the sky, and when the most sublime
Sunday service the mind can well imagine per-
vaded the tremendous silence and grandeur of
the whole distance That night we lay at Domo
D’Ossola, and yesterday we came on here Both
at the Austrian frontier and at the gate of Milan
we were received with the greatest politeness
and consideration I am bound to say that I
never knew the usual Passport and Custom-
House regulations more obligingly enforced
So here we are

We stayed two days with Townshend very

131

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

pleasantly indeed, and I had the gratification
of receiving your note with the Prince’s kind
enclosure — for which pray thank him in my
name — and also of further hearing of you from
our host himself, who beamed “like one entire
and perfect” soft smile when he produced your
hand-writing. My old Lausanne friends were
all so cordially happy to see me that I felt half
ashamed of myself for being liked so much
beyond my deserts Our stay there disposed
of, we went on to Geneva and so to Chamoumx,
which, at this time of the year — no visitors, the
hotels shutting up, and all the people who can
afford It going away — is far more primitive and
interesting than as one usually sees it. We
went up to the Mer de Glace through prett}^
deep snow, warmed ourselves at a wood fire
on the ice, came down again and stayed a day
in the valley, left Mont Blanc at 7 in the morning
just reddened on its utmost height by the sun
and without a cloud upon it, and crossed to
Martigny These achievements (with a vanety
of gymnastic exerases with a pole, superadded)

I performed on foot, to the infinite satisfaction
of the Guides, who pronounced me “a strong
Intrepid,” and were of opinion that I ought to
ascend Mont Blanc next summer I told them
in return that it had become such a nmsance
in my country that there was some idea of

132

TRAVELLING IN ITALY

authorizing Paxton to take it down and re-erect
It at Sydenham.

We go on to Genoa by the mail to-morrow,
where some more of my old friends expect me
and are going to hold a small festival on the
great occasion I find my companions so un-
used to the notion of never going to bed, except
in large towns, that Sicily is already erased from
the trip, and Naples substituted for its utmost
limit We shall return too, for shortness, by
the way of Pans — where I shall probably take
up Charley about the 8th or 9th of December.
If you should have leisure to wnte me a few
lines with ten days or so — or say a week — after
the receipt of this, Poste Restante Rome will
find me After that Florence, after that, Venice,
after that Genoa again, as we shall return by
way of Marseilles.

It IS so strange and like a dream to me, to
hear the delicate Italian once again, and to recover
the knowledge of (such as it is) which I almost
thought I had lost So beautiful too to see the
delightful sky again, and all the picturesque
wonders of the country And yet I am so rest-
less to be [illegible] — and always shall be, I
think, SO long as I have any portion of time —
that if I were to stay more than a week in any
one city here, I believe I should be half desperate
to begin some new story! 1 !

133

K

Die:

The references in the lerrer cf Xcvercber itfh
are to Sir Henry Larcrd, to a son of the Honenr-
able Caroline Xorton, and to Sir Tnomas Emersen
Tennent (iSojL-69); £rst baronen traTeiler.
bamster, ooliriaan and anther.

'if 3

DOME

Surd::j ]\:ght, Tf::n::~tc 2 \crsr fr~.

, . . TTe came from Genca 10 Xanies — ongat
rather to say. Trent — in the rh/Vna steamer, an
English ship nlaced noon this route chieny tc
convey the Overland India Mad mom hlaita ta
jMarseilles. vrhen it becomes due. Our ccuntnr-
men and ~omen. and the

all other Enropean regions, are so much attracted
by the fame of this shin, that me found it mhen
me ment aboard nerfectiv crammed. Tnere me

nt fort

laers.

abon

blankets, seats at dinner, or other acccnmtcaa-
tion in the may of eating. Clinking, or sieepmg
— ^fhe mhole havinv nmd heavy nrst class rares
The Erst nis:ht me lav on the nianks of the neck.

mith thirty seven nn:
tmo declared all night that they mould mrtre to
The Trmeo in the morning. You never sam so
ridiculous a scene. Insane attempts to make
pilloms of carnet bavs. hat bones, and lite buoys
— ^mild endeavours to screen ladies ott main nags,
mhi ch mvariablv fell domn as seen as tnev nac

. beads

tved . . ArP.n o'vi'^

vn

g^xttaot

d\na^7 ^^tV:ed

,^\ese\abotate^J^^glit a

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taken ■ .v,e midd^^ '-'* v^i

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J dear

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starts,

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abont

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135

sd^'^'ltting '"

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

an arm-chair all night, and resigning his bed
(four feet and a half by one and a quarter) to
me It was very comfortable though the Engine
was under the pillow, and the wall extremely
nervous, and the whole m a profuse perspiration
of warm oil. At Naples I found Layard — ^with
whom we ascended Vesuvius in the sunlight
and came down in the moonlight, very merrily
Talking of Italian, I must mention that Emerson
Tennent and his family were of the party —
they had been in the VaJctta — and that he stopped
the Expedition indignantly, a little way up the
cone, to demand “a church” for his daughter
He meant a chair, but he persisted in, and
insisted on, having “Una chiesa” — to the un-
speakable amazement and consternation of the
forty screeching vagabonds who formed our
escort My heart misgives me in relating this
story even to you, for he wanted to turn his
son out of his bed (and stranger still the son
wanted to turn out too) when he heard of my
lying on the deck But we laughed about it so
ridiculously afterwards, with Layard, that I can t
help this little bit of treason

There has been a wretched business with
young Brinsley Norton (the youngest living son
of that unhappy marriage) at Naples He has
recendy turned Catholic and married a Peasant
girl at Capri, who knows nothing about anything

136

V c; T^cy

dV^'^rfo'clf

.’S i"a; *=«

. A^tcttiiiy r . tbe ^ „.upn i- bi

t,f. btctavvj a tuo ^

lo\i ?°ed » f“'“had )“='

been ^ttac

■Long

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’s P

b^s

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- ..-[stond doin ^sod n^^

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into entett y-end . urotber

"trcoo'^"'

v;bo favot^ibi'^
tbe mn^ j be g'
\s

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.nv

be

s;990^“ :;d aUoge»o-
vonng »«»' ^„Jes, »’’'f 'f^''

W05' very ''°‘ Us of tnosep'^ sjnS'

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vnsf''’r;;n**e

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sea

same

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rning

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v/bo

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-avatenj

m

m

tnte’

been

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

dug out, vrlth the ruined and broken roof still
upon it — ^vrhich gives a perfect and admirable
idea of the process of destruction. Meanwhile
Vesuvius looks on very peaceably — ^for the
present.

... I was amazed by the life and enterpnze
in Genoa, and the increase in the place since I
lived there If it goes on in the same way long,
its old commeraal greatness will be renewed
again.

I admit that they do not speak very clearly
or sweetly about Milan and in that country,
but they can if they choose, and they do choose
when a stranger speaks to them The language
has a pleasant sound in my ears, however spoken
almost, which no other has except my own

VILL.-i DU CAVP DE DROITE, BOULOGNE.

TL’crsday ty Second jut e, 185a.

. . You cannot think what a delightful cottage

we have srot. The rooms are larger than those
in the old house, and there are more of them,
but the oddities are almost as great, and the
situation — on the top of this hill, instead of
three parts down it — ^is most beautiful. V e
have a field behmd the house, with a road of
our own to the Column — unbounded au — -
capital warden — and all for five guineas a week

138

COTTAGE AT BOULOGNE

I anticipate shewing it to you some time in the
autumn, with great pleasure And there are a
vanety of ingenious devices in the Robinson
Crusoe way affected by the undersigned (who
I think has moved every article of furniture in
the house, since Monday afternoon) which must
be studied^ to be appreciated

The camp is not a mile off, and I have been
in terror lest I should hear the drums I went
over yesterday, to reconnoitre the enemy It
IS a very cunous and picturesque scene The
3 or 4,000 soldiers now here, are building mud
huts thatched with straw, for the 50 or 60,000
who are to come I should think there are
about 1,000,000 trusses of straw piled up ready
for use, and the 3 or 4,000 men (lazier than
any men I ever saw) are constantly wheeling
little barrows of earth about — containing twelve
tablespoonfulls each, as nearly as I can estimate.
Except that nobody is bnsk, it looks like the
opening of some capital French play

Our children arrived on Tuesday by the
London boat, in every stage and aspect of sea
sickness When I saw them land (Sydney with
an immense basket, and a Custom House Officer
in a cocked hat much bigger than the child
looking into it) Flight seemed the only course
open to me The Nurse was prostrate, and
(generally speaking) was carried by the Baby

139

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

instead of carrying him. That wonderful young
creature was the admiration of the sternest
Manner aboard — ^which I never heard of a
SuiFolk Baby yet — in consequence of the gentle-
ness with which he was perpetually looking out
of a white basin and in the intervals of his
paroxysms, pitying his family and attendants-
They arrived after dark, with 27 packages,
whereof 5 prodigious chests belonged to Mamy
and Katy’s governess, who is a Frenchwoman
and so small that I should have thought a hat
box might have contained her entire wardrobe.
In the dead of night when we were all asleep,
a vigilant Custom House Agent appeared with
22 of those picturesque but screeching women
who look after the baggage. The hill being
extremely steep, they had harnessed themselves
with ropes to the 27 packages. The Tremendous
uproar is inconceivable

Mr St George and his “infamous proceeding”
have passed into oblivion The Good-Natured
Man is one of Goldsmith’s comedies.

VILLA DU CAMP DE DROITE, BOULOGNE

Thursday^ Twenty Second June 1854.
That IS a most infamous proceeding on the
part of Mr. St George Those people who are

140

r^::^ -

t\ve G°°‘^ y Apa\ ^ tnvse^^ ^ to

a go^/: .ss.t H- -I, .ee»s

^ <rdo A ^:«pect*'^*'”®

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’itcv-^^f%:>^:% our cun^rs

».Vu nss»Wd to t«pe

day "^^vc^^ens ^^fttvseWes ^ f f

aS®s sot *XVt ^ouAd ^ 8 ,„^le

IlSy}

t»-tSS|!3{5':55*3

*; . »srfri£Cr '»"•

rs%<»£ «?i,' ;?'-5-"
•s:.r ■«:•»-““

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKEKS

TAVISTOCK HOUSE,

Twcfity SfKlh October

. . I am very son*)’- you are in a maze about
the article to Working Men — which was written
by a friend of yours Its meaning is, that they
never will save their children from the dreadful
and unnatural mortality now prevalent among
them (almost too murderous to be thought of),
or save themselves from untimely sickness and
death, until they have cheap pure water in un-
limited quantity, wholesome air, constraint upon
little landlords like our Westminster friends to
keep their property decent under the heawest
penalties, efficient drainage and such alterations
in building acts as shall preserve open spaces
in the closest regions, and make them where
they are not now That a worthless Govern-
ment which IS afraid of every little interest and
trembles before the vote of every dust contractor,
will never do these things for them or pay the
least Sincere attention to them, until they are
made election questions and the working-people
unite to express their determination to have
them, or to keep out of Parliament by every
means in their power, every man who turns
his back upon these first necessities It is more
than ever necessary to keep their need of social
Reforms before them at this time, for I clearly
see that the war will be made an adnainistration

142

MISS BURDETT-COUTTS AND HIGHGATE

excuse for all sorts of shortcomings, and that
nothing will have been done when the cholera
comes again. Let it come twice again, severely,
— the people advancing all the while in the know-
ledge that humanly speaking, it is, like Typhus
Fever in the mass, a preventible disease — and
you will see such a shake in this country as
never was seen on Earth since Samson pulled
the Temple down upon his head

I wish you would read, in next week's No. of
Household Words^ an article called Our French
Watering Place (with a portrait of my Boulogne
landlord), and a Poem called The Moral of this
Year.

Miss Burdett-Coutts did not carry out her
suggestion of presenting a piece of ground in
Swain’s Lane, Highgate, as an open space, but as
an alternative she provided a site for the schools
of St. Anne’s Church, Highgate

TAVISTOCK HOUSE,

Wednesday Second May

I looked carefully at the Highgate piece of
ground the other day, and I think it on the
whole very eligible for presentation as an open
space

These are my reasons,

143

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

1 It abuts immediately on the lane as you go
up to the Cemetery, and consequently never
could be diminished or built in upon that margin.

2 If the field opposite to it and below your
large summer-house belongs to you, that West
side of the ground is wonderfully free

3 The ground itself is so shaped that it seems
scarcely possible to build anything outside the
top wall but one or two villas on the top of the
rise, with lawns or gardens sloping downward
to the piece of ground, which would not at all
detract from its beauty, and would not too closely
hem It in.

4 The plan of building now carrying out at
the East or Small Pox Hospital side, suggests
that in that direction also, the piece of ground
wll have gardens turned towards it.

Lastly the ground itself is of a wonderfully
appropriate shape for an open space, and is so
high in the most ornamental part that the view
must always remain. The bottom would make
an admirable children’s playground, and the
upper part with a few seats and a few more
trees would be a beautiful little Park in itself

Dickens’s new book was Ltttle Domt, or
Nobody's Faulty as it was called up to the eve
of publication

The two old ladies at Deptford were not

144

DR. Johnson’s godchild

descendants of Dr. Johnson, who had no chil-
dren, but were the daughters of Mauritius Lowe,
an historical, and afterwards a portrait, painter,
born in the middle of the eighteenth century.
He was much befnended by Dr. Johnson, who
was godfather to his son and to one of his two
daughters. To each godchild he left a legacy
of 4100. Lowe, who is said to have been im-
provident and ill-conditioned by nature, drifted
into poverty, and the poorer he became the
greater were the efforts of Dr. Johnson to help
him and his unfortunate family There is,
wrote Miss Burney, “a certain poor wretch of
a villainous painter, one Mr Lowe, whom
Dr Johnson recommends to all the people he
thinks can afford to sit for their picture ” ^

As an old lady Johnson’s god-daughter said
she remembered sitting on his knee and being
made to repeat the Lord’s Prayer. How Carlyle
discovered Miss Lowe and her sister is unknown,
but being convinced of their hona fides he drew
up a memorial to the Prime Minister, Lord
Palmerston, asking for a pension to be granted
out of the "funds for the encouragement of
literature ’’ This memonal was also signed by
Dickens, Thackeray, Tennyson, Macaulay, Bul-
wer Lytton, Disraeli, Bishop Wilberforce, Dean
Milman, and other eminent men Lord Palmer-
ston was unable to grant the pension, but in
June, gave a donation of J^ioo from some

other fund — probably the Royal Bounty Fund
1 Dr Birkbeck Hill’s ediaon of Boswell’s Z(/k of Johnson,
vol 4, page 202

145

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

This being inadequate, a letter signed by Carlyle,
Dickens, and Forster appeared in The Tunes of
November i, 1855, appealing to the nation to
subscribe about ^400 to purchase an annuity,
subscriptions to be sent to Messrs Coutts
Johnson’s god-daughter was then in her seventy-
eighth year, and was living with her sister,
aged 72, at 5, Minerva-place, New-cross, Dept-
ford They were described as living in “rigorous
but not undignified poverty,” and as having
numerous memonals of Johnson in their posses-
sion Among these memorials was “the fir
desk,” which was “capable of being rigorously
authenticated” as the one upon “which Samuel
Johnson wrote the English Dictionary ”

The desk was acquired by the Reverend
Augustus K B Granville, of C C C (Cambridge),
incumbent of St James, Hatcham, London, by
whom it was presented in 1867 to Pembroke
College, Oxford, where it is preserved in the
Library, together with another Johnson desk
from Lichfield, — information kindly supplied by
Mr R G Collingwood, the Librarian of Pem-
broke College

Mauritius Lowe died ten years after Dr John-
son, whose godson obtained a minor appointment
in the Barbados, (1810-13) and died shortly
afterwards

In The Times of October 3, 1857, there is a
report of the sale of building materials of the
chambers formerly occupied by Dr Johnson at
No I Inner Temple Lane, with a statement
that the staircase, the wainscoting, banisters, the

146

THROES OF ADTHORSHIP

cirvcd wood over the door, with pilasters, form-
ing an external doorway, w^erc to be preserved
in perpetuity by the Benchers, although they
had to be removed from their original position.
The matcnal disposed of sold for ,^10 ^$. A
tall oak bookcase and a cupboard in Dr. John-
sons’ House, Gough Square, arc said to be
made from w^ood from this source

Many admirers of Johnson, and the public
gencr.ally, can hardly be aware of the debt of
gratitude they owe to Mr Cecil Harmsworth
for having purchased the house in Gough Square
where Dr Johnson lived for eleven years, and
where the famous Dictionary was compiled,
restored the building in the most perfect taste,
and preserved it in perpetuity as a national
memorial to Johnson

TAVISTOCK HOUSE,

Tuesday Eighth May 18 55

I am in a state of restlessness impossible
to be described — ^impossible to be imagined —
weanng and tearing to be expenenced I sit
down of a morning, with all kinds of notes for
my new book (for which by the bye, I think I
have a capital name) — resolve to begin — get up,
and go out and walk a dozen miles — sit down
again next morning — get up and go down a
railroad — come back again, and register a vow
to go out of town instantly, and begin at the

147

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

feet of the Pyrenees — sit down again — get up
and walk about my room all day — ^wander about
London till midnight — make engagements and
am too distraught to keep them — couldn’t go
to the Academy Dinner — ^felt it impossible to
bear the speeches — pleaded Influenza at the last
moment — and am at present going through the
whole routine, over and over again

Two old ladies have turned up at Deptford,
who are the last descendants (I think Great
Grand-daughters) of Samuel Johnson Mr Car-
lyle has found them — ^in great poverty, but un-
demonstrative and uncomplaining, though very
old — ^with nothing to speak of in the wide world,
but the plain fir desk on which Johnson wrote
his English Dictionary

Sir Austen Henry Layard (1817-94) had a
somewhat stormy political life From iSyi,
when he gave up his work as an archaeologist to
devote himself to politics, he came into collision
with the Tapers and Tadpoles of the Liberal
Party. It is said “his manner was brusque,
and his advocacy of the causes which he had at
heart, though always perfectly sincere, was
vehement to the point sometimes of reckless-
ness ” He never hesitated to speak and vote
against his own party when he felt called upon
to do so What particular “mistake” he made
in 1855, to which Dickens refers, cannot be

148

“a reformer heart and soul”

traced. After having been twice Under Secre-
tary for Foreign Affairs, he fortunately gave up
politics for diplomacy In the following and
other letters, Dickens appears to have under-
estimated the conservative spmt of his fellow-
countrymen, and their capacity for endurance

TAVISTOCK HOUSE

Friday Eleventh May, 1855

Layard has made a mistake The men who
would run him to death have wilfully committed
all manners of perversions a thousand times,
and have no claim upon my sympathy in their
unfair pursuit of him, and every claim upon my
suspiaon and resentment. Take my knowledge
of the state of things in this distracted land, for
what It may be worth a dozen years hence The
people will not bear for any length of time what
they bear now I see it clearly wntten in every
truthful indication that I am capable of discern-
ing anywhere. And I want to interpose some-
thing between them and their wrath

For this reason solely, I am a Reformer heart
and soul I have nothing to gain — everything
to lose (for public quiet is my bread) — but I
am in desperate earnest, because I know it is a
desperate case

You will believe that I have no sympathy
149 L

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

with any misstatement of fact, or hesitation in
withdrawing it I wouldn’t be unfair, if I knew
It, to any human being. I should hate myself
if I were

You think me impetuous, because I some-
times speak of things I have long thought about,
with a suddenness that brings me only to the
conclusion I had come at, and does not shew
the road by which I arrived there But it is a
broad highway notwithstanding, and I have trod
It slowly and patiently. Only believe that, and
you may think me as impetuous as you like
Think me anything you like, so that you write
me letters I am so proud of.

Paxton, mentioned in the next letter, was Sir
Joseph Paxton (1801-65), who designed the
building of the Industnal Exhibition in Hyde
Park, the building now known as the Cn'stal
Palace Mr Morlcy, the chairman of the Cit}'
Association, was Mr Samuel Morlcy (1809-S6),
the wealthy philanthropic Nonconformist textile
manufacturer Miss Burdett-Coutts’s tovn house
was I, Stratton Street, Piccadilly

TVVISTOCk HOLSr
Tue^da) rjjtccfUh, I^laj 1S55
Shortl} to resume the Nincvjtc question
As I said before, La} ard made a mistalx —
was too much ill-treated and insulted to be able

150

SIR UrSRV LAYARD

to rcjnir it then (^\h^ch would have required
a man wnth great presence of mind and perfectly
free from impetuosit) — say, for instance, myselQ
— and so ga\c his enemies a handle against him,
vrhich the} use. I differ from you altogether,
as to his setting class against class He finds
them alrcad} set in opposition. And I think
}ou hard!) bear in mind that as there are two
great classics looking at each other in this ques-
tion, so there arc two sides to the question itself
You assume that the popular class takes the
initiative Now as I read the stor)', the aristo-
cratic class did that, years and years ago, and
It IS tht^ who have put their class in opposition
to the country — not the country which puts itself
in opposition to them

My present position with Layard is exactly
this I felt (before the mistake — ^as I remember,
a w’cek or ten days before), that he needed
support, I was struck, at your house, to see
him so changed and anxious, I happened to
come into the knowledge of bitter endeavours
and private influences that were at work to put
him down, and I wrote to him, urging him not
to be discouraged, telling him that I thought
him, in the circumstances of the time, the most
useful man in the house, and that I considered
It a positive duty to render him all the help I
could, short of going there myself. Such help

151

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

as I could give him then, I did give him im-
mediately, and he was very sensible of it. He
shewed me his resolutions, some days before he
made them known in the house, and in the
mam I approved Then came the mistake We
dined together on the very next day after it,
and I besought him for Heaven’s sake to be
careful In another day or two, came the City
Administrative Reform Meeting, and proposal
for establishing an association. I resolved to
become a Member of it, and to give (as a kind
of example to a large class). Twenty Pounds
I felt that Layard wanted, and I considered in
spite of his error that he deserved, some little
backing, and I wrote him a note saying “Do
you tell Mr Lindsay that the association may
rely upon me to this extent ’’ Last Saturday,
in pursuance of an old engagement made weeks
before the mistake, he and I dined at Greenwich
with Paxton and some others Layard then
asked me. Had I heard from Mr Morley, the
Chairman of that City Association, because Mr
Morley had asked him whether he thought I
could by any means be got to speak at a Meeting
in Drury Lane Theatre, if they should decide
to hold one there? I considered about it, and
said my impression was that I would speak on
such an occasion, but that before I could pledge
myself, I must first know everything that was

“the lighthouse”

intended to be done, and be sure that I approved
of It I made this a text for again impressing
upon him the necessity of being careful under
so great a responsibility (putting it as my own
feeling about myself), and he earnestly assented,
adding “If you go, I will go, but not otherwise,
I think ”

I am anxious to have a perfect confidence
with you on the subject, and now you know all
I know If I can exercise any influence with
him, I hope it will be to keep him cooler and
steadier No man can move me on such a
matter, beyond what I have made up my mind
IS right And as to my even being tempted
into any hot public assertion, I believe if you
had ever seen me under speechifying circum-
stances, you would have a perfect confidence in
my composure — in short, in my having left that
impetuosity — say in Stratton Street

The “grown-up play” was Wilkie Collins’s
The LtghtJiouse The scene painter was Clarkson
Stanfield, R A (1793-1867), and the man to be
shown “what it means” was Benjamin Notting-
ham Webster (1797-1882), a comedian and
theatrical manager The lady who deplored that
Dickens did anything else than act was Mrs
Elizabeth Yates (1799-1860) Her maiden
name was Miss Brunton, and in 1823 she married
the actor Frederick Henry Yates As an artist

153

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKEXS

she challenged companson "vrith the best actresses
of her penod Ladv Becher, the wife of Sir
A\'nxon Becher, first baronet, was Miss Eliza
O’Neill, an actress also

T.-^\TSTOCK HOUSE

T‘c:enty Fourth 2 ^'lay. 185 ^',

. . . Pray be within reach of this house about
the middle of next month We are going to
do a gro'ioh-tip Pin) in the children’s theatre,
with a smaller audience and a larger stage
Mr Collins has wntten an odd Melo-Drama,
the whole action of which (of course it is short)
takes place in a lighthouse He shewed it to
me for adwce, and some suggestions that I
made to him involved a description of how
such a thing ought to be done in a Theatre
— and might be done if there were more sense
in such places So wc are going to show Mr
Webster what it means' and Mr. Stanfield, full
of his nautical and theatncal ardor, has taken
possession of the Schoolroom, and v. ill rcallj
paint and make out an illusion of a ^c^} fine
kind, as far as hts art goes

T/ilrlSTOCK HOUSE

T'u.tJ ij FuJh .Puj, 1855

Mr. Stanfield being at present shut up in the
Schoolroom with tvo of the dirtiest artificers
I c^cr saw — who ha\c been dug out of the

15a

PRIVATE THEATRICALS

profoundest depths of some Theatre, appear to
have wallowed in gas from their infancy, and
are now making chalk lines all over the floor,
while the distinguished painter coerces them
with an umbrella — I am in a condition to report
that the Night is Saturday the i 6 th of June
. The interlineations in this note, are
attributable to my being at work on the new
book — ^which makes me perfectly reckless as to
erasures

Tavistock House
Tuesday Nineteenth June 1855
. The audience were not so demonstrative
last night as on Saturday, and the Corps Drama-
tique were disposed to think them “flat “ I
observed however that they were crying vigor-
ously, and I think they were quite as much
moved and pleased as on Saturday, though they
did not cheer the actors on so much — except
in the Farce Everybody played exactly as on
the previous night — including Mr Forster, who
buffeted the guests (I am informed) in the same
light and airy manner. Mrs Stanfield was
mollified, and certainly seemed to have been
hustled out of the house on Saturday Night,
like a species of pick-pocket Lady Becher was
evidently very much impressed and surprised,
and Mrs Yates said (with a large, red circle

155

LETTERS OF CHARLES_ DICKENS

round each eye), "O Mr. Dickens vrhat a pity
It IS you can do anything else I” Longman the
bookseller vras seen to cry dreadfuJlv — ^and I

• V

don’t know that anything could be said beyond
thatl

At the beginning of the Crimean War, Miss
Burdett-Coutts sent out patent dr)Tng sheds m
which the men exposed to the weather, that first
dreadful winter, rmght dry their sodden clothes
when off duty. In this practical work of sym-
pathy Dickens co-operated with her.

Mr. John Sutherland, MD (1S0S-91), the
weU-known promoter of sanitary saence and
inspector under the first Board of Health, was
sent bv Lord Palmerston to investigRte the
sanitary conditions of the troops in the Cnmea
He carried out great sanitar}' reforms in the
armv, and in the following letter, dated June 27th,
1855, written to Dickens from Constantinople,
he bore testimony to the value of the drpng
machmes sent out by hliss Burdett-Coutts

Crockett’s ’coon has become proverbial on
both sides of the Atlantic The Colonel was
supposed to be a dead shot, and it was alleged
that one day while out racoon shooting, he levelled
his sun at an “old ’coon” concealed in a tree,
whereupon the ’coon cried out, “Hallo there >
Air you Colonel Crockett' For if you air. I’ll
just come down, or I know I am a gone ’coon ”
Dr Brewer adds that Martin Scott, Lieutenant-

iy6

THE CRIMEAN WAR

General of the United States, is said to have
had a prior claim to this saying. Is it possible
that the ’coon story arose from one of these
gentlemen having been in pursuit not of a racoon,
but of a black coon, — or, in other words, of a
runaway slaved

David Crockett (1786-1 836) was an American
frontiersman, born in Greene County, Tennessee,
who acquired reputation as a hunter and a trapper
He served in the Creek War under Andrew
Jackson, and subsec^uently became a colonel in
the Tennessee militia In 1821 he became a
member of the State legislature, having won his
election not by making speeches, but by telling
stories, of which the ’coon may have been one
Later he was elected four times to the National
House of Representatives, and his shrewdness,
eccentric manners and peculiar wit are said to
have made him a conspicuous figure at Washing-
ton Finally he emigrated to Texas, where he
took part in the struggle for independence, and
was killed on March 6th, 1836, at San Antonio
No further reference has been found to Martin
Scott

DEAR MR. DICKENS,

Some ages ago I received a note from you
forwarded to me at Balaklava introducing a
drying machine and its bearer for the hospital
at Scutari

I did what I could with people in and out of
authority in Scutari to get their aid in putting

LETTERS OF CH.-^RLES DICKENS

up the machinej and heard nothing more of it
till the day before yesterday. On that day I
Trent over the hospital for the first time these
three months and found it in operation. It is
vrell put up, gives great satisfaction and does its
vrork so effectually that the wet clothes, L’ke
Da'sdd Crocket’s Coon, gize tn as soon as they
have seen it and dry up forthwith, at least such
is the general impression if I can judge from
the terms in which it was spoken of

The Machine does great credit to Miss Coutts’
philanthrophy and also to your engineering.

With sincere regards

I am Tours ever

J. SUTHERLAND.

The disturbances in Hyde Park were caused
by the Sunday Bill introduced in the House of
Commons by Lord Robert Grosvenor (1801-93),
at that time the TTig member for Middlesex
The opposition to the bill led to nots on June 24th
and July ist and 8 th, and the bill was eventually
withdrawn. Lord Robert was afterwards created
the first Baron Ebury.

TAVISTOCK HOUSE

Monday Twenty Seventh June 1855
. . . I am sorry for what occurred m Hyde
Park, but it is an illustration of what I en-

158

RIOTS IN HYDE PARK

dcavourcd to put before you in reference to
to-night’s Association — I mean the extraordinary
Ignorance on the part of those who make the
laws, of what is behind us, and what is ever
ready to break in if it be too long despised. I
have said to any one in Parliament whom I
know and have happened to see, since Lord
Robert Grosvenor brought in that bill, “how
can you be so mad as to let it creep on? There
IS no power in the Country that can enforce it
if it be passed, the people are going wild by
being worried on the subject, they have suffered
an amount of cruel denial and discomfort through
the last Sunday bill, which you don’t or won’t
understand; and it is wonderful to see you
rushing on to not and disturbance as you are ’’
Some don’t understand how things can be so,
many more don’t care, and the dangerous result
IS brought about that the people get no hearing
until they break out into tumult — and then the
business is done in a moment

If Lord Robert Grosvenor were so ignorant
as to bring in that bill on the requisition of any
fanatic people whomsoever, he is simply the
last man who ought to represent Middlesex —
which I hope he will never do again.

Sir Thomas Noon Talfourd (1795-1854), the
author of Ion and Memorials of Charles Lamb^

159

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

was a member of Parliament and eventually a
judge.

TAVISTOCK HOUSE

Thuuday Twelfth July

. The chief employment of Talfourd’s
confidential clerk was to prevent his taking his
hat off his head, or his watch out of his pocket,
to give it in his kindness to would-be poets by
whom he was beset

The Watson referred to was probably Joshua
Watson, the philanthropist, who died on June
30th, 1855

PARIS, 49 AVENUE DES CHAMPS ELYS^ES,

Tuesday November Thirteenth 18 55
. . I did not tell you that I am going to
read at Peterborough in the middle of next
month, as a mark of affectionate respect for
Watson, poor dear fellow, who was connected
with the place, and that Mrs Watson is going
with me. It will be the first time she has seen
the place for many a long day

49 CHAMPS ELYS^ES, PARIS.

Thursday Tenth January 1856
. I have made arrangements with a large
bookselling-house in Pans here, for the pubh-

160

THE PORTRAIT BY ARY SCHEFFER

cation of a French translation of the whole of
my books A volume will appear about once a
month, and it will take a }ear and a half or two
years to complete It will be a pleasant thing
to have done m one’s life time It is their
venture, and they pay me three or four hundred
pounds for it besides The Portrait for which
I have been sitting to Ary Scheffer, is just done
He IS a great painter, and of course it has great
ment I doubt if I should know it, myself —
but It IS always possible that I may know other
people’s faces pretty well, without knowing
my own.

Referring to Gadshill Place, Dickens wrote
to Forster on the 1 3th February, 1856 “Thegood
old rector now there has lived in it six-and-twenty
years, so I have not the heart to turn him out He
IS to remain till Lady Day next year, when I shall
go in, please God, make my alterations, furnish
the house, and keep it for myself that summer ”
Mr Austin was Henry Austin, “Dickens’s
brother-in-law and counsellor in regard to all such
matters in his own house ’’

HOUSEHOLD WORDS OFFICE

Saturday Ninth February 1856
. . As to Gad’s Hill Place — ^which is the
name of my house If you mean in your kind

161

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

note, the refusal of it nowy I am sorry to say that
It IS not now available. As I told Mrs Brown
yesterday, the Rector lives in it, and has lived
in It for some years, and the object Wills and
I have in view in going down there directly, is
to ask him how and when it will smt his con-
venience to come out — as of course I wish to
treat him with all handsome consideration. It
IS not now a furnished house, but my object is,
as soon as I shall have got rid of the tenant, to
make it clean and pretty in the papering and
painting way, and then to furnish it in the most
comfortable and cosey manner, and let it by the
month whenever I can. Whenever I cannot, I
shall use it for myself and make it a change for
Charley from Saturday to Monday When all
this is done, I shall have a delight in taking you
down to see it which I shall not try here to
express, and if you should like it so well as to
think of ever occupying it as a little easy change,

I shall be far more attached to the spot than
ever I think you will be very much pleased
with it It is so old-fashioned, plain, and com-
fortable On the summit of Gad’s Hill, with a
noble prospect at the side and behind, looking
down into the Valley of the Medway Lord
Darnley’s Park at Cobham (a beautiful place
with a noble walk through a wood) is close by
It, and Rochester is within a mile or two. It is

162

l^ondon by

, on \'0Mr ^ the , \ooh at

on\> r^Q crov/n a , ^ ^ knov/s

^n\h’<’a^ tbc ‘ ^vh^ch Goa ^

" r then I n« "-V

nnd

'" *" f n ehrnbbejy “ e

ind s° ^ Utden, : ,t which the "

'’"dfof the big't t°V to yn“ ’'f'soine of
<=t''tt ®'%,hen d Ld-^f tonrw

loohe accoinphe „eniont

contriventtf 4„fti"V '"®
thetti w^ i for It
^on whet t V

Tuesday

nr:s->wtSi"r::‘'^-

,,ov;hng aho^t ^^okvng ^^vte, ^

t-etftng end teet'”8

teaiaoS i^nting

nothing. tt.3

DICKZXS

LnTE3iS OF CK.--F.LFF

gOj.ng- out, comin? in, a iNIonster to mr fanuir,
a dread PdenomenoG to myself. &c 6cc. See.

Tne play in course of preparation vras Tie
Frezt^ Deep, bv ilkie CoILr.s “O” vas a
friendlv desisnation for IMrs. Brorrn.

TAmSTOCJ: HOUSE

Tueeer, TJ-treee? ‘h M : iS<6

... I am not witboat hope that in the vnnter
nights when we are alone here, you and iNIrs
Brown mav be induced to talce some interest in
what I dare say you never saw — the growth of
a plav from the beginning hlr Coilins and I
have hamme-ed out a cunous idea for a ne v
one, which he is to wr.te, and wnich we puraosc,
please God. to bnng out on Charley's Dirrhc'’v.
Mr Stanhe'd has alreacv been h^ng-ng out of
t’ne centre oack-winaow of the schoo’rco”^ at the
risk of hiS hfe, im eating wonde^fu’ onects and
measunrg the same. If you -’'d O were to
come i”to the secret f~om the comme''ce"'e''r.

and see cL the w''\5 md r'C'ns and the ernmu''!
imn-o'' cmw't o‘ ’t, and tnc tru'^ of ccc to
vh ch m" reor'c am subm ttea -^a the

gene“ni .ngc-iKU a-a good h’t'-ou", I tr -"k it
voifc r~S5 n fe" G""k e e'^incs p’wa'-''tu. .

1 6a

THE RUGELEY POISONER

The Mr Palmer referred to was William
Palmer, M R C S., the Rugeley poisoner, who
after murdering his wife in 1854, made away with
his brother, and then his friend Thomas Parsons
Cook in 1855, to obtain money He was con-
victed, and hanged on June 14th, 1856 The
trial excited extraordinary interest In the article
in Household for June 14th, 1856,' Dickens,
after referring to Palmer as “the greatest villain
that ever stood in the Old Bailey dock,” describes
his “complete self-possession” during the trial,
his “constant coldness,” his “profound com-
posure,” and his “perfect equanimity ” In all
this Dickens saw “no inconsistency” and “no
fortitude.” Such demeanour signified nothing
but “cruelty” and “insensibility ”

TAVISTOCK HOUSE.

Sunday First June 1856 (Mid Winter)
You cannot imagine what a wonderful
sight Illuminated and Fireworked London was,
from the top of St. Pauls I must try my hand
at a description of it in Household W ords In the

next No but one, by the bye, I wish you would
read an opening paper of mine, with the rather
alarming title of “The demeanour of Mur-
derers ” It IS a quiet protest against the news-
paper descriptions of Mr Palmer in Court
shewing why they are harmful to the public at
large, and why they are, even in themselves,

165 M

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

altogether blind and wrong I think it rather
a curious and serviceable essay 1

I am writing in a great coat and a fur cap.

Among her many activities, Miss Burdett-
Coutts did much to promote needlework, for
which she had classes, gave pnzes, and often spoke
to the girls at Whitelands Training College
James Kay Shuttleworth, created a baronet in
1849, as Secretary to the Committee of Counsel
on Education, introduced the system of exam-
ination of schools by Government inspectors.

BOULOGNE, VILLA DES MOULINEAUX

Friday Eleventh July 1856
. . I thoroughly agree in that interesting

part of your note which refers to the immense
uses, direct and indirect, of needlework. Also
as to the great difficulty of getting many men
to understand them And I think Shuttleworth
and the like would have gone on to the crack
of doom, melting down all the thimbles in Great
Britain and Ireland, and making medals of them
to be given for a knowledge of Watersheds and
Pre Adamite vegetation (both immensely comfort-
able to a labouring man with a large family and
a small income), if it hadn’t been for you
I spell Harbor without the letter u, because

166

U AND I

the modern spelling of such words as “Harbor,
arbor, parlor,” &c (modern within the last
quarter of a century) discards that vowel, as
belonging in that connexion to another sound
— such as hour and sour But, if it will be the
slightest satisfaction to you, I will take that
vowel up again, and fight for it as long as I live
U and I shall be inseparable, and nothing shall
ever part us

John Forster (1812-76), Dickens’s fnend and
biographer, married on the 24th of September,
1856, Eliza Ann, daughter of Robert Crosbie,
R N , and widow of Henry Colburn, the well-
known publisher Eighteen years previously he
had been betrothed to Miss L E Landon, but
the engagement, for some reason, was broken off,
and unfortunately for herself, the poetess married
George Maclean Forster’s resignation of the
editorship of The Examiner appears to have been
due not to his marriage but to his appointment as
secretary to the Commissioners of Lunacy. Five
years later he was made a Commissioner of
Lunacy, with a salary of ^ 7 ^^

BOULOGNE

Tuesday Fifteenth July 1856
Pray read a story in two parts in Household
Words — next No. and the following one — called

167

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKEXS

Anne Rodney’s Diary. It is by Mr ColhnSj
and I think possesses very remarkable merit —
especially the close of it I forget v/hcthcr I
have already mentioned it in a former note If
I had forgive the repetition.

Mr Forster is going to marr} a widoiv — fie
or SIX and thirtv, agreeable, and T'other pretty
— ^vrith as many thousand pounds as she is ot
age Thereupon, he will relinquish the editing
of the , vhichis to be regretted, nc ht is

one of the most responsible and careful ofhtcnr}
men associated vith newspapers — though he (^ccs
hustle an unoffending Company, sometimes.

A LriTLE BIRD

mcc, -vchctccny He sent viord that he would
‘look round ' He looked round, appeared in
the doom a) of the room, and slightly cocked up
his Cvii c)c at the goldfinch Instantly a raging
thirst beset that bird, and when it ■nas appeased,
he still drew sc\eral unnecessary buckets of v ater,
leaping about his perch, and sharpening his bill
%vith irrepressible satisfaction ”

VILLA DES MOULINEAUX,

Wednesday Thirteenth August, 1856
. Pray tell Mrs Brown with my love, that
the flowers are beautiful, and that Mary is
improving in her powers of floral arrangement
every day In two parts of the garden, we
have sweet peas nearly seven feet high, and their
blossoms rustic in the sun, like Peacocks’ tails
We have honey-suckle that would be the finest
in the world — if that were not at Gad’s Hill
The house is invisible at a few yards’ distance,
hidden in roses and geraniums The little bird
IS gradually getting less afraid of his thimble,
and draws a world of water this hot weather.
He hangs in the drawing-room now, with the
other birds, and a tremendous sensation was
created yesterday just before dinner by his being
found hanging by the leg, upside down, in the
cord from which one of their cages depended —
twirling round and round as if he were roasting

169

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

for a course of poultr}^ It took about half an
hour to untwist him He was prodigiously
ruffled, and staggered about as if he had been
to the public house, but soon recovered

Some particulars of the Rev. Chauncey Hare
Townshend are given in the note to Dickens’s
letter of October 8, 1853 (p 129) There were
a good many other persons besides Dickens who
thought that the political surgeons had made a
mess of the peace that followed the Crimean War
In particular, objection was taken to the neutral-
ization of the Black Sea, to the guarantees given
Turkey to secure her against foreign aggression ,
the cession by Russia of part of Bessarabia to Rou-
mania, and above all to an attempt to interfere
internationally with the liberty of the Press in
Belgium — a design eloquently denounced by Mr.
Gladstone. The first and third provisions named
were cancelled in 1871 and 1878

VILLA DES MOULINEAUX
Wed 7 iesday^ TlnUeenth August^ 1856
. I crossed from Folkestone a week ago?
and found Townshend on board, fastened up in
his carnage, in a feeble wideawake hat It was
rather windy, and the sea broke pretty heavily
over the deck. With sick women lying among
his wheels in various attitudes of despair, he

170

“like an ancient Briton”

looked like an ancient Briton of a weak con-
stitution — say Boadicea’s father — in his war-
chanot on the field of battle I could not but
mount the Royal Car, and I found it to be per-
forated in every direction with cupboards, con-
taining every description of Physic, old brandy,
East India Sherry, sandwiches, oranges, cordial
waters, newspapers, pocket handkerchiefs, shawls,
flannels, telescopes, compasses, repeaters, (for
ascertaining the hour in the dark), and finger
rings of great value He was on his way to
Lausanne, and he asked me the extraordinary
question “how Mrs Williams, the Amencan
Actress, kept her wig on?” I then perceived
that mankind was to be in a conspiracy to believe
that he wears his own hair

Some gravel got into my bath the other
morning, and cut my left elbow, deep, in so
complicated a manner, that I was obliged to
send into the town for a surgeon to come and
strap It up This reminds me of the political
surgeons, and of the fearful mess they have
made of the Peace But I have never doubted
Lord Palmerston to be (considenng the age in
which he lives) the emptiest impostor and the
most dangerous delusion, ever known Within
three months of the peace, here are its main
conditions broken and the whole world laughing
at usl I am as certain that these men will get

171

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKEXS

US conquered at last, as I am that I shall die.
We have been feared and hated a long time
To become a jest after that, is a very, very,
serious thing. Nobody knows what the English
people will be when they wake up at last and
find It out (N B This is the gravel that
gets into my mind )

TA^USTOCK HOUSE,

Fiiday T'-Joenty Stxfh September. 1856.

, . I have come home to such an immense

arrear of demands on my attention, that I am
falling behind-hand with that reser^^e of Little
Dorrtt which has kept me easy durmg its pro-
gress, and to lose which would be a senous thing.
All the week I have been hard at it with a new
to tomorrow, but I have not been in a qmck
vein (which is not to be commanded), and have
made but tardy way If I stick to it resolutely
now, next week will bring me up If I let a
day go now, there is no saying when I may
work round again and come nght

TA^^STOCK: HOUSE

Thvd October. 18 yd.

. Immense excitement was occasioned here
last night by the arrival of Mr Collins in a
breathless state, with the first two acts of his
play in three Dispatches were sent oft to

172

"the frozen deep"

Brighton, to announce the fact. Charley ex-
hibited an insane desire to copy it There was
talk of a Telegraph Message to Mr Stanfield m
Wales. It IS called The Frozen Deep^ and is
extremely clever and interesting — ytxy serious
and very cunous.

The Mr Bentley referred to under the date
October 30th, cannot be identified He was
not Mr Richard or Mr George Bentley, the
publishers, nor will the description of his age fit
in with any of the other Bentleys whose lives are
recorded in the D N B

TAVISTOCK HOUSE

Thursday Thirtieth October 1856
I have seen Mr Bentley (a very respectable
grey-haired, high-dried little man, compounded
of a Master of the Ceremonies in former years,
a collector of Assessed Taxes, a highly trust-
worthy Book-keeper, and a Pansh Clerk of five
and thirty years standing)

TAVISTOCK HOUSE

Thursday Fourth December 1856
. . It IS freezing, thawing, and snivelling
It IS also densely foggy Nobody can stand in
the street, and nobody can quite fail Mr

173

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

Stanfield, after undergoing unspeakable perils
in the passage from Hampstead, is being held
on a board fixed between two tall ladders (on
account of Rheumatism) by two carpenters It
IS exactly like a shabby coat of arms.

Miss Burdett-Coutts, having sent a pattern of a
drab cotton material called “derry,” which it was
pioposed to use for overalls and other purposes in
the Home for Women at Shepherd’s Bush, re-
ceived in reply the following protest:

TAVISTOCK HOUSE

Saturday^ Fifteenth November i8j^6
I return Derry. I have no doubt it’s a capital
article, but it’s a mortal dull color Color these
people always want, and color (as altered to
fancy), I would always give them In these
cast-iron and mechanical days, I think even such
a garnish to the dish of their monotonous and
hard lives, of unspeakable importance One
color, and that of the earth earthy, is too much
with them early and late Derry might just as
well break out into a stripe, or put forth a bud,
or even burst into a full blown flower Who is
Derry that he is to make quakers of us all,
whether we will or nol

174

MISS BURDETT-COUTTS’S HANDWRITING

The Home at Shepherd’s Bush was carried on
for some years with varying degrees of success.
There were gratifying cases of redemption with
new starts in life, and some successful efforts at
emigration But, on the whole, the work proved
even more^ difficult than Dickens had foreseen*
and after many discouragements and failures the
scheme was given up

Dickens’s letters contain many amusing refer-
ences to the difficulty of here and there reading
words or phrases in the writing of Miss Burdett-
Coutts The writing looked so plain, but was
often the despair of friends and secretaries, and
for the lady to be unable to read what she herself
had written was by no means unknown 1 Out of
the complications that arose Miss Burdett-Coutts
denved quiet amusement, and she was inclined to
view with suspicion the claims of Mr Wills, or
any of his three successors (Mr afterwards Sir
John Hassard, Mr Clough, and C C Osborne)
to infallibility If she could not read the passage
herself, she was not willing to admit that anyone
else could! We may be sure that the following
extracts from letters written between 1848 and
1857 by Dickens were enjoyed by Miss Burdett-
Coutts.

Mr Tennant was the Rev W Tennant, the
first Vicar of St Stephen’s, Westminster

The articles in The Tmes on Africa appeared
during October, November and December, 1856,
and excited much attention Among other
questions with which they dealt were the explor-
ation of Central Africa, the peculiarities of Africa,

175

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

Algiers and the French, an attack on the Kabyles,
and the legend of the Whip in Algiers.

DEVONSHIRE TERRACE

Thursday October Fifth. 1848
. I have been hammering again and again
in the most ridiculous manner, at a rather ille-
gible passage in one of your notes. I read it

“ could simplify it more.” Who could,

was the great question I had to solve. Proglyns?
It looked like Proglyns I began to think
whether I had ever met any clear-headed gentle-
man of that name, at your house. Not re-
membering him, I looked at it again “Judy’s
son” It was then, plainly But I rejected that,
as a manifest impossibility Tennyson — ^July
sawyer — Wednesday night — p n d y s g n (which
looked like a Welsh name) until all at once I
found It was “perhaps you” — and was very
much relieved and complimented

TAVISTOCK HOUSE

Tuesday Evening, First June 1852
. . . The most bewildering doubts beset me
concerning “Trip” — or “Flip” — I can’t make
out which It IS I hardly think you would pro-
pose Flip to me (which is a strong drink) at

176

TRir, rERWi, PELOX^S

Noon, nnd unless the word is “Trip,” and
means Mrs Brown, I am on a wide ocean of
conjecture (Since writing the above, I have
looked at )our note again, in a sudden burst of
hope that It might be “Tripe” — but there is
no c) It must be Mrs Brown 1

BOULOGNE Sunday Tenth July, 1853
I can't quite make out — my fault, no
doubt 1 — the name of the applicant, of Cambridge
Terrace, Liverpool Road If it be Perry, I
never heard of her husband If it be Kerry, I
never heard of him If it is Sherr)', I have
heard of him — but only in connexion with the
Spanish wine trade If it be Flcrr}’’, I never
heard of him If it be Jerry, I never heard of
him And if it be Henry, Benry, Stenry —
Werry or Merry — I never heard of him

Twenty Sixth October, 1854
The conclusion of your note has greatly
agitated my mind “With all kind regards and

” then a wonderful word, which I at first

thought was “Nelsons,” but which I now make
out to be “Pelows ” What is a Pelow? what am
I to do with It? To whom am I to give it?
Docs It require an answer? Is any Pelow

177

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

supposed to be enclosed, or was it left out by
mistake, or can it have dropped out at the Post
Office? I never was so disturbed by doubts
and difficulties

PARIS

Tuesday Eighth A-pnl.

. . . I have no doubt — please to observe par-
ticularly — NO DOUBT — that my reading, and not
your writing, is to blame (indeed I generally
find It too plain) but the second name of old
Pierre is an appalling mystery to me I defy
Mr Wills to read it. I have got to this — old
Pierre Mont — old Pierre Montle I am going
out to the house you give me the direction to,
to enquire vaguely whether le vieux Pierre
Montle — and then I shall cough — lodges there.
If I get at him by these desperate means, you
shall find the report on the other side

TAVISTOCK HOUSE

Tuesday February Thirds 1857
. . I read your letter at breakfast with great
gravity and a general rustic sensation which I
associated with the field and a vague idea of a
syllabub in the garden, to the effect that “Mr
Tennant will probably speak about a COW ”

178

DR LIVINGSTONE AND AFRICA

Coming shortly afterwards to an unknown girl
m the country (otherwise unintroduced) I found
It was CASE

I don’t know who wrote the African articles
in The Tmes^ but I will enquire, and tell you
Without at all disparaging Dr Livingstone or
in the least doubting his facts, I think however
that his deductions must be received with great
caution The history of all African effort,
hitherto, is a history of wasted European life,
squandered European money, and blighted
European hope — in which the generous English
have borne a great share That it would be a
great thing to cultivate that cotton and be in-
dependent of Amenca, no one can doubt, but
I think that happy end, with all its attendant
good results must be sought m India There
are two tremendous obstacles in Africa, one,
the climate, the other, the people
P S The wildest legends are circulating about
town, to the effect that the Queen proposes to
ask to have The Frozen Deep at Windsor. I
have heard nothing of it otherwise, but slink
about holding my breath

The horrible and demoralizing spectacle re-
ferred to by Dickens in the following extract
was abolished, largely through the efforts of
Miss Burdett-Coutts

179

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

TAVISTOCK HOUSE,

Fourteenth Fehuary. 1857
, Yesterday at the Zoological Gardens I saw
(accidentally, for I had no idea of such a thing
until I got into the room), the Serpents being
fed with live birds, Guinea Pigs, rabbits, etc
A most horrible spectacle, and I have ever since
been turning the legs of all the tables and chairs '
into serpents and seeing them feed upon all
possible and impossible small creatures

In her efforts to promote the knowledge of
what are called “Common Subjects,” Miss
Burdett-Coutts for many years gave prizes for
papers on such subjects as “Household Work,”
“Needlework,” “Thrift,” “Dress,” and “House-
hold Management ” Sometimes selections made
from these essays were published in the form of
a little book, and such a book, dealing with
dress, was sent to Dickens, and elicited the
following replies

OFFICE OF HOUSEHOLD WORDS
16 WELLINGTON STREET NORTH, STRAND

Thursday Fifth Match 1857*
Now, you will presently go on to say to
Mrs Brown, “what a queer man he is! what
odd ideas he has sometimes!” Nevertheless, I
can’t help saying that I don’t agree with you in

180

DRESS AND FALSE SENTIMENT

your approval of the little essays about Dress
I think them not natural — overdone — full of a
conventional sort of surface morality — disagree-
ably like one another — and, in short, just as
affected as they claim to be unaffected Catherine
Stanley (page 36) who finds out that the reason
for not liking a little bit of finery — ^which almost
every young person on earth does, remember —
human nature is “a common thing”, and it is
of no use to dream of putting it aside — Catherine,
I say, who finds out that the reason for not liking
It and putting it on, is, that she will be ‘‘more
really admired” without it, ought to be her
successor — Miss Sly I should call Cathenne
the only honest person of those Seven

With these exceptions — respecting which I
nail my flag to the mast with a tenpenny nail at
each corner — I have been greatly interested in,
and pleased with, the whole book And I
heartily congratulate you upon it

watt’s hotel, GRAVESEND

Thursday Ntght Nmth April 1857
. My uneasiness on the Dress point, arose,
first of all, from the nature of the girls’ remarks
I do not feel them to be true, and I have a very
great misgiving that they were wntten against
nature, under the impression that they would
have a moral aspect. I attach no blame to the

181 N

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKEXS

young women — have not a doubt that they
deceived themselves far more than they will ever
deceive anybody else — and believe them to have
written in a love of commendation, in a rather
more disagreeable phase of it than a love of
dress would shew.

I have also long felt the question to be an
excessively difficult one Apart from what you
so gently and delightfully write in your letter
(you must not mind my praising it, because it
really does charm me), of that little womanly
vanity and desire to please, which a wisdom in
companson with which the best of our lights are
mere ignorance and folly, has implanted in
woman, as one of their distinguishing marks,
for the happiness of mankind, I have to add an
observation which I believe to be a true one. I
constantly notice a love of color and brightness,
to be a portion of a generous and fine nature
I feel sure that it is often an innocent part of a
capacity for enjoyment and appreciation, and
general adornment of everything, which makes
a buoyant, hopeful, genial character I say
most gravely that I do xot know what I may
take away from the good influences of a poor
man’s home, if I strike this natural common
thing out of the girl’s heart who is going to be
his wife

It is like the use of strong drinks or the use

182

HANS ANDERSEN

of Strong anything The evil is in the abuse,
and not in the use The distinction between
the two, and the perception of the medium in
which taste and propriety are to be found, is the
result — one of the results — of a generally good,
sound, plain education. The natural tendency
of the sex through all its grades, is to a little
finery — and I would not run counter to that (I
make bold to say), agreeable, wholesome, and
useful charactenstics The frivolous women of
a better degree who disgust you and all sensible
people, have really had no education whatever
that deserves the name.

TAVISTOCK HOUSE

Twenty Second May 1857
. After the first of June, I shall be inconsol-
able until I have fairly laid hold of you and Mrs
Brown and taken you in captivity down to Gad’s
Hill I want you so much to see it It is full
of the ingenious devices of the inimitable writer,
and I really think is as comfortable a little place
as you will find out of Torquay — ^which place I
consider to be an Impostor, a mockery, a de-
lusion, and a snare

The two following extracts reflect but imper-
fectly the anxieties and complications that arose
from a visit paid Dickens by Hans Andersen

183

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS
gad’s hill PLACE, HIGHAM

Third June. 1857.

. . . Hans Christian Andersen may perhaps be
with uSj but you won’t mind him — especially as
he speaks no language but his own Danish, and
is suspected of not even knowing that

TAVISTOCK HOUSE,

Friday Tenth July 1857
. . . We are suffering a good deal from Andersen.
The Other day we lost him when we came up
to the London Bridge Terminus, and he took a
cab by himself The cabman driving him
through the new unfinished street at Clerkenwell,
he thought he was driving him into remote
fastnesses, to rob and murder him He con-
sequently arrived here, with all his money, his
watch, his pocket book, and documents, in his
boots — and it was a tremendous business to
unpack him and get them off. I have arrived
at the conviction that he cannot speak Danish,
and the best of it is, that his Translatress declares
he can’t — is ready to make oath of it before any
magistrate

The first paragraph of the letter of September
5th, 1857, referring to Friday being Dickens’s
lucky day of the week, and the one upon which

184

"the frozen deep”

he first met Miss Burdett-Coutts, was given in
the introduction to the Letters (v pages 29, 30).

Richard Wardour, over whose death thousands
of people were said to have wept, was a character
in the play The Frozen Deep^ by Wilkie Collins,
(v page 172 ) The tears of Miss ManaTernan,
so sympathetically described by Dickens, may be
regarded more cynically by the present gener-
ation She was a daughter of Frances Eleanor
Ternan (nde Jarman), an actress of considerable
reputation, who played many parts both in Lon-
don and the provinces, and in 1855 took part
with her daughters Maria and Ellen Lawless
Ternan, Dickens and other literary celebrities, in
representations of The Frozen Deep Though
Maria and Ellen Ternan did a great deal of acting
in amateur companies they did not finally adopt
the stage as a profession Ellen Lawless, to
whom Dickens left a legacy of ^1^000^ married
Mr George Wharton Robinson, M A , a school-
master, Maria married a Mr W Taylor, and
afterwards went to Italy, where she was for some
years the special correspondent at Rome of The
Standard — at that time the most influential daily
paper in London next to The Times A third
sister, Frances Eleanor, marned Thomas
Adolphus Trollope, an accomplished and suc-
cessful writer, and the brother of Anthony
Trollope T A Trollope was a contributor to
Household Words, and his wife, in common with
her mother, Mrs Ternan, and her two sisters,
were all warm friends and admirers of Dickens,
particularly Ellen, who was an intimate mend or nis

LETTERS or CHARLES DICKENS

daughter Kate (Mrs. C A. Collins), and of his
sister-in-law, Miss Georgina Hogarth, who re-
mained a great friend up to the time of Mrs.
Robinson’s death

Mr Lemon was of course Mark Lemon (i 809-
70), one of the founders, and the first editor, of
Punchy the first number of which was published
July 17th, 1841

gad’s hill place
Saturday^ Fifth September 1857.

. . . Mentioning Richard Wardour, — perhaps
Mr Wills has not told you how much impressed
I was at Manchester by the womanly tenderness
of a very gentle and good little girl who acted
Mary’s part. She came to see the Play before-
hand at the Gallery of Illustration, and when we
rehearsed it, she said “I am afraid, Mr Dickens,
I shall never be able to bear it, it alfected me so
much when I saw it, that I hope you will excuse
my trembling this morning, for I am afraid of
myself” At night when she came out of the
cave and Wardour recognised her, I never saw
anything like the distress and agitation of her
face — a very good little pale face, with large
black eyes, — it has a natural emotion in it
(though it was turned away from the audience)
which was quite a study of expression But
when she had to kneel over Wardour dying and

186

MISS MARIA TER NAN

be taken leave of the tears streamed out of her
eyes into his mouth, down his beard, all over his
rags — down his arms as he held her by the hair
At the same time she sobbed as if she were
breaking her heart, and was quite convulsed
with grief It was of no use for the compas-
sionate Wardour to whisper “My dear child,
It will be over in two minutes — there is nothing
the matter — don’t be so distressed!” She could
only sob out, “OI It’s so sad, O it’s so sad!”
and set Mr Lemon (the softest hearted of men)
crying too By the time the Curtain fell, we
were all crying together, and then her mother
and sister used to come and put her in a chair
and comfort her, before taking her away to be
dressed for the Farce I told her on the last
night that I was sure she had one of the most
genmne and feeling hearts in the world, and I
don’t think I ever saw anything more prettily
simple and unaifected Yet I remember her on
the stage, a little child, and I daresay she was
born in a country theatre

Very pleasant to know, I submit to you and
Mrs Brown? And if you ever see, at Kean’s or
else where, Miss Mana Ternan, that is the
young lady

The statement in the following letter must not,
of course, be taken too seriously, particularly the

187

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

paragraph written immediately after the terrible
events of the Indian Mutiny.

gad’s hill place
Sunday Fourth October 1857,
... I observed an extraordinary deterioration
in Layardj the last time I saw him I ventured
to hint to him that I thought it came of his not
leaving the noble game of Politics to the knaves
and Fools and Pococuranti, until they had ruined
us.

When I see people writing letters in The
Times day after day, about this class and that
class not joining the army and having no interest
in arms — and when I think how we all know
hat we have suffered a system to go on which
has blighted generous ambition, and put reward
out of the common man’s reach, and how our
gentry have disarmed our Peasantry — I become
Demoniacal

And I wish I were Commander in Chief in
India The first thing I would do to strike
that Oriental race with amazement (not in the
least regarding them as if they lived in the
Strand, London, or at Camden Town), should
be to proclaim to them in their language, that
I considered my holding that appointment by
the leave of God, to mean that I should do my

188

TOUR WITH WILKIE COLLINS

Utmost to exterminate the Race upon whom the
stain of the late cruelties rested , and that I begged
them to do me the favor to observe that I was
there for that purpose and no other, and was
now proceeding, with all convenient dispatch
and merciful swiftness of execution, to blot it
out of mankind and raze it off the face of the
Earth

In 1857 Dickens and Wilkie Collins made a
short tour in the North of England, and out of
this arose the five chapters in Household Words
entitled “The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Appren-
tices ” Collins’s grim story is good, but Dickens’s
bit of “diablerie” is better, and highly ingenious,
for the ghost is of a man who committed two
murders for gain, and by investments multiplied
his wealth twelvefold, with the result that his
ghost increases in number from one to twelve
with the striking of the clock I

gad’s HILL PLACE
Sunday Fourth October 1857
Mr Collins (who never goes out with me
on any expedition, without receiving some damage
or other), sprained his leg on our second day
out, and I had to carry him, k la Richard
Wardour, in and out of all the Inns, Railway
carnages etc , during the rest of the Expedition.

189

LETTERS or CHARLES DICKENS

You Will see “Our Lazy Tour” now going on
in Household Words It contains some descrip-
tions (heml) remarkable for their fanciful fidelity,
and two grim stories — the first, of next Wednes-
day, by the cripple, the second, of next Wednes-
day fortnight, that is to say in the Fourth Part,
by your present correspondent — a Short Story —
a bit of Diablerie

The 1857 Christmas number of Household
Words consisting of thirty-six pages, contained
a story of the Caribbean Seas, where a gang of
cruel pirates capture English prisoners, twenty-
two women and children, all of whom are, of
course, victoriously rescued It was entitled the
“Perils of Certain English Prisoners and their
Treasure of Women, Children, Silver and Jewels ”
It consisted of three chapters, of which the first
and third were written by Dickens. It is perhaps
the least successful of all the Christmas stones.

OFFICE OF HOUSEHOLD WORDS

Wednesday Twenty Fifth Nov 1857
Would you and Mrs Brown like to come and
dine with us at Tavistock House, either on
Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday at 6, to hear
the Christmas No of Household Words. It is
all one story this time, of which I have written
the greater part (Mr Collins has written one
chapter), and which I have planned with great

190

DOUGLAS JERROLD

care in the hope of commemorating, without
any vulgar catchpenny connexion or application,
some of the best qualities of the English char-
acter that have been shewn in India I hope
It IS very good, and I think it will make a noise
Naturally, therefore, I want you to know what
It IS, before anybody else does .

After the death in June, 1857, of his dear
friend Douglas Jerrold, Dickens decided to
organize a series of entertainments to raise a
fund for the benefit of the family Two sub-
scnption performances were given in the Gallery
of Illustration, Regent Street, of Wilkie Collins’s
The Frozen Deep^ Dickens gave two readings
of his Christmas Carol in St Martin’s Hall, with
such immense success that the idea then occurred
to him of giving public readings for his own
benefit Two of Jerrold’s plays. The Rent Day,
and Black-eyed Susan, were revived, lectures were
given by Thackeray and W H Russell (the
famous war correspondent of The Times), there
was a third performance of The Frozen Deep,
attended by the Queen and Pnnce Consort,
followed by another in the great Free Trade
Hall, Manchester, where Dickens again read his
Carol To carry out the business arrangements
of these entertainments Dickens secured the
services of Mr Arthur W W Smith (1825-61),
and when he began his own public readings
both in London and the country he had the

191

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

assistance of this invaluable man of business,
who was also devoted to Dickens personally
The death of Mr. Smith in i86i was a great
blow to the novelist, who said, “it is as if my
right arm were gone ”

HULL

Wednesday Tiventy Seventh October. iSj'S.

. . My tour is now drawing to a close, and I

am heartily glad to think that it is nearly over,
and that I shall soon be at home in my own
room again It has been wonderfully successful
My clear profit — my own, after all deductions
and expences — has been more than a Thousand
Guineas a month But the manner in which
the people have everywhere delighted to express
that they have a personal affection for me and
the interest of tender friends in me, is (especially
at this time) high and far above all other con-
siderations I consider it a remarkable instance
of good fortune that it should have fallen out
that I should, in this autumn of all others, have
come face to face with so many multitudes
Mr Arthur Smith is everything I could desire,
and has made the way as smooth as possible
His extraordinary practical knowledge, and his
great zeal, and his gentle way of dealing with
crowds and putting people at their ease, have
been of the greatest service and comfort to me

192

“the tale of two cities”

TAVISTOCK HOUSE, TAVISTOCK SQUARE.

Monday Thirteenth December 1858
. . The Coventry people have given nae a
seventy five Guinea Watch, which is chronometer,
Repeater, and every other ternble machine that
a watch can be It was very feelingly and
pleasantly given, and I prize it highly

The novel referred to m the following extract
was the Tale of Two Cities

TAVISTOCK HOUSE.

Monday Thirtieth January i860
..lam very hard-worked just now, for, finding
that I could not prevent the dramatizing of my
last story, I have devoted myself for a fortnight
to the trying to infuse into the conventionalities
of the Theatre, something not usual there in
the way of Life and Truth The result will
become manifest tonight I have some hopes
that there is a French populace dancing the
Carmagnol, which is not like the languid run of
unrealities of that kind

57 GLOUCESTER PLACE, HYDE PARK GARDENS

Friday Twelfth February. 1864
On the last night of the old year I was
acting charades with all the children I had

193

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

made something to carrVj as the Goddess of
Discord; and it came into mr head as it stood
against the wall while I was dressing, that it
was like the dismal thing's that are earned at
Funerals I took a pair of sassors and cut away
a quantity of black calico that was upon it, to
remove this likeness But while I was using
it, I noticed that its shadow on the wall still
had that resemblance, though the thing itself
had not And when I went to bed, it was in
my bedroom, and still looked so Lke, that I took
it to pieces before I went to sleep All this
would have been exactly the same, if poor Walter
had hot died that night. And examining my
own mind closely, since I received the news,

I recall that at Thackeray’s funeral I had sat
looking at that very object of which I was
renunded. See how easily a marvellous story
may be made.

APPENDIX

EXTRACT FROM THE WILL, DATED
AUGUST 7TH, 1888, OF THE BARONESS
BURDETT-COUTTS
page 10 )

“I declare that I am a member of the Church
of England as now by law established Whereas I have
founded and endowed churches m various parts of Eng-
land, and I have endowed Bishoprics and Archdeaconries
in the Colonics and dependencies of the United Kingdom,
now I hereby declare that if at any time hereafter the
Church of England shall be disestablished or separate itself
from the State the object I had m view in providing
such endowments and gifts will be rendered nugatory,
and I further direct that if under such circumstances the
mode of dealing with endowments shall depend upon the
wishes of the founder my wish is (so far as I can law-
fully give such direction) that such endowments and gifts
so made by me as aforesaid shall revert to, and form part
of, my residuary personal estate, and I hereby expressly
declare that such endowments and gifts were not made
by me to any community as a spiritual body or as an
independent voluntary association, but to the Protestant
Church of England as now by law established under the
supremacy of the Crown, being Protestant If the
Church of England shall at any time hereafter be separated
from the State, as the Irish mtegral portion thereof has
been, or shall separate itself from the State, then my

195

APPENDIX

Wish IS and I expressly declare that any transfer or appro-
priation of my endowments and gifts to such Church so
separated or to any new or other ecclesiastical body will
be contrary to my intention as donor and founder But,
without imposing any trust or obligation whatsoever on
my legatees or representatives who may recover such en-
dowments and gifts, I wish to express my hope that they
will regard the feelings which prompted me to make such
endowments and gifts and will, if they shall recover my
said endowments and gifts, or any of them, appropriate
the same or the portion so recovered to such objects as
may to them seem best calculated to promote the principles
of the Protestant Reformation, civil hberty, and social
well-being ”

“MISS MEREDITH’S PILLOWS”

(See pages 35 and 37 )

This phrase in Dickens’s letter of December 14th, 1841,
which sadly puzzled me, was kindly explained to me by
Dr George C Williamson, Mount Manor House,
Guildford, after the letter and my comments appeared
in The Comhtll Magazine Dr Williamson had the
advantage of knowing both Miss Burdett-Coutts and
Miss Meredith, and saw them engaged m making pillows,
stuffed with finely cut up bits of paper The pillows
were sent to hospitals and other institutions m the East
In this interesting explanation may probably also be found
a solution of Lady Burdett-Coutts’s frequent requests
to guests staying with her for old envelopes which were
about to be thrown into a waste-paper basket These
requests puzzled and amused her fnends They would
say, “But they are only old envelopes, Baroness”, to
which Lady Burdett-Coutts would reply, “I know, but

196

APPENDIX

I like old envelopes ” What became of envelopes thus
acquired, I never knew But the requests were no doubt
prompted partly by a memory of far-oflt things never
wholly forgotten by that wonderful mind, and partly out
of enjoyment of the astonishment displayed by those who
received so novel a petition from a ^‘great lady” I

THE PORTRAIT OF CHARLES DICKENS
By Samuel Drummond

This oil portrait by S Drummond was formerly in the
collection of the Baroness Burdett-Coutts, by whom it
was valued as a good likeness of Dickens as a young
man

It was probably painted about 1836 or 1837, when
Dickens was about twenty-five years of age I cannot
remember, if I ever knew, when it came into the pos-
session of the Baroness Burdett-Coutts, but I believe it
to have been at about the time it was painted, and I
am certain it was before 1880 It always hung in one
of the pnnapal reception rooms at i Stratton Street,
and I remember that Lady Burdett-Coutts expressed to
me a wish that it should be lent with other pictures to
The Victonan Exhibition at the New Gallery, in i8gi
There can be no doubt whatever in my mind that the
Baroness Burdett-Coutts, who knew Dickens as a young
man, considered it a genuine and interesting portrait of
the Author

I am indebted to Mr Lindsay Fleming, M A , Aldwick
Grange, Bognor Regis, for the following additional
interesting details regarding the picture

“The Portrait of Charles Dickens by Samuel Drum-
mond was in the collection of the Baroness Burdett-

197

o

APPENDIX

Coutts and was sold at the rooms of Messrs Christie,
Manson & Woods on Thursday, May 4th, 1922, being
Lot 20 It only realized 32 guineas, since it did not
appear at that time to be generally accepted as an authentic
portrait of Dickens

“The portrait measures 29^ inches by 24^ inches, it
shows a young man of clear complexion, prominent and
shapely nose, large eyes of a brownish colour, and smallish
but full-lipped mouth, with a shock of bla^ hair He
wears a dark coat with fur collar and a black embroidered
vest, a white shirt and black stock A black nbbon
hangs round his neck, and what may be an eye-glass is
attached to it A neck-chain appears hanging m front
of the vest

“Exception has been taken to the portrait on the
ground of the eyes being wrongly coloured But see
the letter of Mr M H Spielmann, F S A , the eminent
art critic, to The Tmesoi 28 October, 1928, where it is
said that the colour of Dickens’s eyes changed with his
moods Apart from this portrait, diflFerent artists por-
trayed them as dark blue-grey, brown, blue, and they have
been described as hazel, grey, black. Changes may also
occur in the pigment of the eyes in an oil picture

“The following description of Dickens, by his friend
Francesco Berger, published in The Times of February
7th, 1928, may be cited

“ ‘Dickens was of middle height, of moderate bulk, and of
ruddy complexion In his dress he was anything but untidy,
frequently wearing a black velvet waistcoat well calculated
to show off the long gold watch chain suspended from the
neck ’

“The back of the picture is inscribed

“ ‘Chas Dickens Esq Boz painted by S Drummond Esq ,
ARJk’

198

APPENDIX

"Snmucl Drummond, born 1765, was made A R A
in i8c8, and died 1844.

"On the back of the frame is a newspaper cutting
referring to the sale at Gad-hill Place on 9th June, 1870,
of effects of Charles Dickens, conducted by Mr Homan
rnquin ofMr Hubert F Homan, of Messrs Franklin
Homan Ltd , 1 78, Eastgatc, Rochester, elicited that the
portrait v as not in that sale Nor avas it in the sale of
Charles Did ens s picture and works of art at Christie’s,
Jul>, 1870

"Pasted on the back of the fnme is a card reading,
‘The V ictonan Lxhibition, New Galler)' Title, Charles
Did ens by Drummond, lent by die Baroness Burdett-
Coutts Reg No 333-8 ’ It was No 222 in the
catalogue This cxliibition was held in the years 1891-2

"The portrait was reproduced in F G Yiiiton's Charles
Dtekens Hts Ltfe, Jf^nttngs and Personality^ 1902, and
IS therein stated to be published through the courtesy of
the Baroness Burdett-Coutts, the owner

"The late Mr B W Matz, Editor of the D/r/fmnro,
consulted the late Mrs Pcrugini, daughter of Charles
Did ens Mr Matz wrote on 29th January, 1923

'“During my vant to Mrs Pcrugini on Saturday, I spofc
to her about the Samuel Drummond portrait, regarding which
jou WTOtc her

“ ‘She asks me to tell you that she behem the portrait
to bo that of her father She does not Inow if the onginal
painting i "as ever in her father’s possession, or if he gave it
to the Baroness Burdett-Coutts, but she is pleased to give you
her assurance that she does not doubt its authcntiaty

“ 'I am glad to be able to funush this information, as it also
settles a doubt that had always been m my mind ’

“The portrait passed from the Burdett-Coutts collection
into the possession of Mr James Fleming, of Aldwick

199

APPENDIX

Grange, Bognor Regis, Sussex* Mr. Fleming loaned it
from April, 1925, for two years, to the Dickens Museum,
Doughty Street It hung there over the mantelpiece in
the room believed to be Dickens’s study, where Dickens
finished Ptckwtck and Oliver Twist, and wrote Nicholas
Nicklehy Its place was taken by a careful copy made
by Mr P A Hay, R I , R S W , the gift of Mr Fleming
to the Museum ”

200

INDEX

Adelaide, Bishopric of, 3, 195
Africa, Articles in The Times,
i 75 > 179

Albert, Prince, 104, 191
Andersen, Hans, 183-4
Artists’ Models in Rome, C4-5
Art Students’ Home, 5
A Talc ofT<wo Cities dramatized,
193

Austin, Henry, rfii, 163

Babbage, Charles, 5, 9
Bcchcr, Ladj, 154, 155
Bartlett, William Aahmead, 9
Dleal; House, 114
British Columbia, Bishopnc of,
3> m

Brooke, Sir James, 7, 9
Brown, Mrs {see also Meredith,
Miss Hannah), 23, 35, 36,
91, 108, 118, 128, 129, 162,
164, 169, 177, 180, 183, 187,
190

Brown, Dr William, 35, tor,
125

Brownngg, Ehzabeth, 53, 54
Buckland, Frank, 5
Burdett, Angela Georgina,
Baroness Burdett-Coutts,
Biographical Introduction
Birth and early life, i
Chief interest, 2-3, 15
Work for the Church of Eng-
land, 3-4, 195

Burdett, Angela Georgina,
Baroness Burdett-Coutts —
Services to Education, 4-5,
103, 1 13-14, 143, 166,

180-3

Columbia Square and Market,
6

Care for Animals, 6
Emigration, 7

Turkish Compassionate Fund,
7

Relief of Distress in Ireland, 7
Populanty and Demonstra-
tions in London, 8
Created a Peeress, 8
Given the Freedom of Cities
and of City of London
Companies, 8
Power of Example, 9
Intimate Friends, 9
Marriage, lo-ii
Religious Convictions, ro-12,

m

Equanimity, 12
Personality, 13-19, 24, 25
Handwriting, 20
Aversion to use of Cheques, 21
Antipathies, 21-3
Nobly Charitable and for-
bearing, 23
Soaal Gifts, 24
Time for everything, 25
SimiLanty to Margaret Godol-
phin, 23-d

201

INDEX

Burdett, Angela Georgina,
Baroness Burdett-Coutts —

Death, 26

Bunal m Westminster Abbey,

8, 27

Letters from Dickens

Home for Fallen Women,
71-87, 88-9, 92-8, 174,

175

Genesis of Mrs Gamp, 91

Martin C/iiizssIcwit, dedi-
cated to Miss Burdett-
Coutts, 92

Efforts for furthering Edu-
cation, 103, 113-14, 166,
1S0-3

Objection to Dickens’s Act-
ing, 107

Columbia Square, the first
great block of mdustnal
dtvelhngs m Ixmdon,
109-11

Drjnng Machmes sent dur-
ing the Cnmean War,
156-S

Miss Burdett-Coutts’s hand-
■WTitmg, 175

Dickens’s playful com-
ments, 176-9

Private Secretaries, 175

Prizes for Essays on “Com-
mon Subjects,’’ 180-3

Will, 10, 195

Requests for old Envelopes,
196

Burdett, Lady, i, 37, 38
Burdett, Sir Franas, r, 2
Burney, Fanny, 145

Cambridge, Duke of, 9
Cape Town, Bi<:hopric of, 3, 195
Chimes, The, 55, 57, 67
Chuxsdcviit, Martin, 41, 92
Clough, Mr , 1 75

Colhngwood, Mr R G , 146
Colhns, Mrs C A , 186
Collins, Wilkie, 29, 105, 128,
iS 3 j i54j 164, 167, 172,
179, 185, 189, 190, 191
Columbia Market, 6
Columbia Square, 6
Coopers Gardens, 4
Coutts, Mrs {n^e Harnot Mel-
lon), I, 10

Coutts, Messrs &, Co , i, 10, 14,
20, 21, 29

Coutts, Thomas, r, 14
Cnmean War, 156-S, 170
Crockett, Colonel David, 156-7
Cniickshank, George, 67-S, 70

David Coppeifcld, 104
Destitute Children’s Dinner Soa-
5

Devonshire, Duke of, 106
de Wnton, Sir Francis, 9
Dickens, Charles, vi, i, 2, 6, 29
Friday a Lucky Day, 30
Friend, and Almoner to Miss
Burdett-Coutts, 30
Recommends Mr Wills as
Private Secretary, 31
His two Ravens, 33-34
First Visit to the Umted
States, 37-40

Agomes of Plotting and Con-
tnving, 41-2, i47> ^^3
At Broadstairs, 51, 99, 100,
103

A Child’s Historj'- of England,

5 ^

Travels in Italy, 5S-67, 131
133-S

A Melancholy Little History,
6S-70

hliss Burdett-Coutts s Home
for Fallen Women, 71-S2,

SS — 9?

202

iNDr\

Illf J r"* Clnrii

\ I\!-n i) Ni'p-il,

\t' 1 to S« r*hntt,
i;:

^S'' (I'inp HI

tn 1 ilLrJtioo. icj,
D'^t 'fr' ' ’

'< 5 n O’litli J ol'jrc-

1)^1 n h» ,\ftinr. icy
TT'* liutlilitif of ColutnbiJ

IC-J-JI

\«)' to Thortii thuplitcr
ivl'Tth" wj^dvinp, ij;-j
'.fr ij, llj

An I'PftpfCtctl % t It, tiS-19
ii!e y ih-tr, 1:4, iiy
Rc' Imp at Iltritiinpham, 115
I/'mlm (!'“vrrtc<l,

Inquin^ into Rcppinp
isy-'’

A MrmoraWe Vojap, Genoa
to Naple*, 134-i
FTpen'ncn n-ar Iloulopne,
13R-40

The Jlou'inp Queaiion, 141-3
Propo'cd Open Space ai ] Iiph-
ptc. 143-4

ImiU Domt, 144, 147, 163
Cnmean War, 138
Worl.j translated into Frcncli,
161

Arj SchcfTer s Portrait, 161
Tki Deircanour of Muniertrs,

His little birds, iCS-^

Peace Treat} of 185C, 171
Protest apimst drab colours,

174

Views on Dress, 180-3
A Bit of Diablcne, 189, 190
Public Readings, 125, 191, 19s
Presented with a Chronometer,

193

A Tale ofTtvo Cities, 193

Difleni, Charles —

A 1 iinerral Obyeri, 193-4
Portrait In *' Driiiimiond,
A R A , 197-200
Die) CMS, Hts'on Cliarlc}, 5:, 38,
fiX, 61, ti7, 71, 135, 162, 164,
17J

Dniinmond, *1001001, 2\ R A ,
Portrait of Dickens, 197-
200

Dr}inp Machines and the
Cnmean War, 13C-S

r duration, efTorts for the further-
ance of, 4, 5, 103, 143, 166,
iRo-3

r rr, Augustus L , 120, laS, 135
Klton, F W , and his Children,

47f 49-55> 55* 7°

r mip-ition, 7
Lael}n, John, 55

Farada}, Michael, 9, 15
Fleming, Mr James, 199
Fleming, Mr lindsa}, 197
Forster, John, his Mamagc, 167,
1C8

Gadshill Place, iGt-3, 183
Gamp, Mrs , tlic genesis of, 91,
120

Godolphin, Margaret, aj
Goldsmith’s grandnephew, 101-3
Gordon, General, 9
Granville, Rev' A K B, 146
GranviUe, Earl and Countess, 108
Greenwood, Frederick, 9
Gross enor. Lord Robert, and the
Sunday BiU, 158-9
Guild of Literature and Art, 55,
104-G

Harmsworth, Mr Coal His
purchase and restoration of
Dr Johnson s house, 147

203

index:

Hassird, Sir John, 175
Hognrth, Mi' 5 Gcorgma, iS6
Hood, Thomas, 60, 66
Hook, Theodore, 46, 47
Hooker, Sir Joseph, 5
Hoiritt, H'llham, 3
H)de Park Riots of 1S55, 15S-9

India, 1S8-9

Ireland, Relief of Distress, 7
Irving, Sir Hcnr}’, 9, 36

Jcrrold, Douglas, 191
Jerusalem, Ordnance Survey of,
7

Johnson, Dr His godchildren,
145-6

Desk used ivhen writing his
Dicbonar}', 146
His house in Gough Square,

147

Keppcl, Admiral of the Fleet Sir
Henry, 9

Kitton, F G , 199

Landon, Miss L E , 167
Lansdowne, Lord, 43, 44
Layard, Sir Henry, 136, 14S-9,
i5°-3j iSS
Leech, John, lao
Lemon, Mark, 1S6, 1S7
Lifeboats, 7

Little Dorut, 1^4, 163, 17a
Livmgstone, David, 4, 179
Longman, Mr , 156
Lovelace, Lady (Byron’s daugh-
ter), ii:-i3
Lowe, hlauntius, 145

Appeal by Carlyle and Dick-
ens on behalf of Dr John-
son’s god-daughter, 145—6
Lytton, Lord, 104, 107, 112

Macread) , W C , 43, 45, izz,
1 = 3-4

Mai^oribanks, Edward, 29, 30,
40

Mar}, Queen, 9
Matz, B W, 199
Meredith, Miss Hannah (see also
Mrs Brown), r, =, 35, 36,
37, 38, 40, 42, 56, 58, 196
Models, Artists’, m Rome, 64-5
Moffat, Robert, 4
Money-Courts, Mrs , 10
Morley, Samuel, 150, 152
Mormngs at Bow Stnet, 68
Mr Ntghttrgak's Dtar^, 1:2-13

National Soaety for the Preven-
tion of Cruelty to Children,

5

Nigeria, 7

Norton, Bnnsley, 136-7
Nova Scotia Gardens, 109

Overs, John, A Working Man,
57

Owen, Su: Richard, 5
Oxford Umversity Scholarships,

4

Palmer, Wilham, the Rugeley
poisoner, 165

Palmerston, Lord, 145, ryr
Paxton, Sir Joseph, 150, 152
Peel, Sir Robert, 9
Pembroke College, Oxford, 146
Pengelly, t^Tlham, 5, 9
Perugmi, hirs , and S Drum-
mond’s portrait of her
Father, 199
Pompen, 137
Power, Tyrone, 53, 55

Ragged School Umon, 5
Ramsbury Abbey, ^

204

INDEX

Ravens, Dickens s two, 33-4
Richmond, Fifth Duke of, 87,
90-1

Ropl Literary Fund, 105
Royal Society for the Pretention
of Cruelty to Animals, 6

St Albans, Duke and Duchess
of, I, 10

St Stephen’s Church, West-
minster, 3
Sale, Lady, 45, 46
Sanatorium or Sick-house, 55,
57, 67» 104-5

Scheffer, Ary, Dickens on his
portrait by, 161

Sewing School in East London, 4
Shurt and Clothing Factory, 5
Shuttlcworth, Sir James K , 166
Slavery, Dickens’s hatred of, 40
Smith, Arthur W W , 191, 191
Smith, Rev Sydney, 60, 66
Spielmann, Mr M H , 198
Stanfield, Clarkson, RJk, 153,
154, 164, 173, 174
Stanley, Sir Henry, 9
Stone, Frank, A R A , no
Sutherland, John, M D , on
Miss Burdett-Coutts’s Dry
Machines in the Crimea, 157
Sussex, Duke of, 43

Talfonrd, Sir Thomas N , 159,
160

Teck, Princess Mary Adelaide,
Duchess of, 9
Tennant, Rev W , 175
Tenncnt, Sir Thomas E , 136
Teman, Mrs Frances Eleanor,
185

Tcrnan, Ellen Lawless, 185
Ternan, Mana and her tears in
The Frozen Deep, 185, 186-7
Thackeray, W M , 191, 194
The FtcarofJFaheJield, Dickens’s
praise of, 102

Townshend, Rev Chauncey
Hare, 4, 129, 131, 170-1
Trainmg Ships, 5
Trollope, Thomas Adolphus, 185
Turkish Compassionate Fund, 7

Victona, Queen, 7, 8, 9, 104, 179,
191

Wahejicld, The Vtcar of, Dickens’s
praise of, 102
Warner, Mrs , 122, 123
Watson, Joshua, 160
Waugh, Rev Benjamin, 5
Webster, Benjamm N , 153, 154
WelhngtoD, Duke of, 9, 1 13-17
Westminster Techmeal Institute,
S

Wheatstone, Sir Charles, 9
White, Mr , “ A melancholy
httle history,” 68-70
Whitelands Training CoEege, 4,
166

WiEiamson, Dr G C , 196
Wills, H W, 20, 31, 32, 127,

Women, Miss Burdett-Coutts’s
Home for Fallen Women,
71-87, 88-9, 92-5, 174, 175

Yates, Mrs Elizabeth, 153, 155,
156

Zoological Gardens, 179, rSo

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enchanted island, where the same friendly people
welcome the leader Even the dogs in this book are
wagging their tads in token of recognition ’ — From
the Author’s New Preface

With a New Preface Fifth Impression
6s net.

RED CROSS
AND IRON CROSS

‘One of the most fearful and poignant mdictments
of mihtarism that has ever been uttered by word or pen ’
‘ A classic among war books ’ — The late Lord Cromer

With a New Preface Ninth Impression.

3J- 6d. net.